Dragon Blood
by Loisceles
Summary: The wizarding world has a secret that Draco Malfoy carries without him knowing it. There are some things that for some wizards held more importance than even the eventual defeat of Voldemort. Slash HPDM Post HBP would have spoilers. NOT follows DH canon.
1. Prologue

**Summary:** The wizarding world has a secret that Draco Malfoy carries without him knowing it. There are some things that for some wizards held more importance than even the eventual defeat of Voldemort. Post HBP.

**Pairing(s):** HP/DM

**Betas:** This prologue has been beta'ed by Audrey.

**Warning:** This is slash and is going to have Mpreg at some future chapter, consider yourselves warned.

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it don't belong to me, they belong to J., I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Dragon Blood.**

**Prologue**

The tranquility of the mountains and the forest were suddenly interrupted by a loud noise, much like an explosion that thundered across the landscape, every bird in the vicinity took flight and the animals ran without direction, terrorized in face of the danger that they knew was approaching but couldn't see. Suddenly, another thunder could be heard, and the sky seemed to catch on fire, heavy clouds of smoke were forming and what seemed lightening of different colors could be seen between them, lines of fire were crossing the sky from side to side while the earth below trembled each time one of those energy blasts crashed with it.

A huge winged form made its appearance from the hell in the clouds and rushed past the trees of the forest, managing to continue flying despite the obvious effort it was taking. It was a dragon, a big one, with slender body and long wings, its scales were rainbow colored, and the membrane of its wings almost translucent. At its side, almost invisible, a much smaller dragon was flying, fighting not to be left behind of the bigger creature. A mother with her offspring, seemingly flying for their lives.

The two figures, identical except for the size, took a turn to evade the side of a mountain and continued their hurried flight, behind them soon appeared other dragons of different species accompanied by men on brooms, who had their faces covered by masks, intent in attacking the two fugitives, the bigger one turned its head and spit a blast of blue fire that hit a Corned Dragon which collided with another and both of them fell to the forest below, taking one of the men with them to his doom.

The persecution continued with the rainbow colored dragons taking some advance on their hunters, but the mother was getting tired, she knew they would soon be captured and she couldn't let it happen. She had to put her baby in safety, her mind started to search the link with the wizarding family that had so nastily betrayed them but was her only hope at the same time. She didn't want to reach the wizard to whom she was linked, she didn't want to risk another mistake, the dragon was looking for someone that had not been tainted yet, that could still be influenced by their dragon magic, someone that wouldn't betray her little cub like her mate had been.

One yellow blast of energy hit her on the right flank, and she collided with a mountain, roaring in pain, one of her wings had nearly broken with the impact, she tried to continue flying but she was falling, she heard the cry of her dragonling and fight against the pain. This shouldn't be happening, she could not let them have her cub, she had to find the link to the right person quickly, she made a last effort to make contact with someone. Anyone! She was desperate. And suddenly it was there, a presence in her mind showing an invisible path to follow, the dragon roared and got new force, her scales started to shine and the two horns in her head emitted a purplish light.

The wizards following the two rainbow dragons nearly stopped flying when they saw the odd light surrounding the fugitives. The other dragons roared in annoyance and spit their fire, none of them hitting their target. The men were outraged.

"Shit!"

"That thing is using magic! Stop it! We can't lose it!"

All of them threw blasts of energy at the two dragons, but it was late, the light became a purple void that swallowed the two flying figures and disappeared instantly, leaving the hunters fooled.

"Damn thing! We have lost the dragonling!"

"What are we going to do now Malfoy? The Dark Lord would not be pleased"

"Shut up Lestrange! Tell your wife that we need to find it! She can do it right?"

"I don't know, but I'll tell her"

"Go and do it! We have to get it alive!"

And they flew away, the rest of the dragons following them.

&&&&&&&&

* * *

It was a boring afternoon for Narcissa Malfoy; she had nothing to do in the big manor, save wait for her husband to get back from the mission the Dark Lord had entrusted him with. The man won't be back until next morning but it was ok, Narcissa had no wish to humor him this night, she had been cranky these last days and she only wished to be left alone.

She was in front of a full wall window, looking to the back garden and the grounds that belonged to the Malfoy family when a sudden blast of light blinded her for a second, she protected her eyes with a hand and looked at the sky, her eyes widened in surprise and she turned and ran away from the window just in time to avoid the huge figure that crashed into it, taking part of the wall too and making an enormous hole. Narcissa was thrown to the floor with the force of the impact, but she got up quickly, coughing in the cloud of dust that had been made, she approached the big figure that lied in the floor unmoving and waited for the dust to clear itself, analyzing the thing that had collided with her home. She stopped a few steps from the form and gasped. It was a dragon, but not any dragon, a Rainbow magic one, they were rare, the most dangerous of all magical creatures because it was said that they could use the greatest of all magic. These dragons always had links with powerful wizards; she knew it because her family was one of the few that had maintained such links since ancient history.

What was this creature doing in her home? She had no link with one of them, she hardly know anything regarding the magical beasts or the secret powers it was said they granted. A shadow moved at her side and Narcissa turned somewhat alarmed, but her awe grew when she discovered the new figure that was slowly approaching the head of the fallen creature. It was a dragonling, surely the offspring.

The woman looked at the little dragon with interest. This could be good, these dragons were valuable beings, she remembered her sister telling her what a joy it had been to their Dark Lord to know she had a link with one of them. Narcissa tried to reach the young dragon, to touch it, but then the mother stirred and a loud pained growl filled the manor's corridors, one reddish eye opened and the woman felt fixed to the floor by the powerful stare, words seemed to seep into her mind as the dragon's head moved to face her.

'_You… you are the traitor's sister…'_

"My sister is no traitor, your kind is attached to her, to all of our family, we own you because of the link" Narcissa answered proudly. She flinched when she heard the anger in the next statement of the dragon.

'_Fool… the deal is ancient and you haven't fulfilled your part… you know of it no more… you and your family are a disgrace to the ancient vow…'_

"Don't you dare to talk to me like this! We are not traitors to any vow!"

'_You are a fool girl… but you have the only thing that could still save us…'_

"Me? Save who?" Said the woman skeptically.

'_All of us… Here… inside you…'_

The big eyes seemed to be looking at her abdomen, and Narcissa automatically put her hands on her belly, her eyes narrowing in comprehension.

"I see. So, I'm pregnant after all. Lucius would be satisfied, he's going to give one more follower to the Dark Lord."

'_No, you'd do no such thing, that child would be ours!'_

The big dragon huffed and an invisible force pushed Narcissa to the floor, she hit another wall and was left sprawled against it. It took a while to regain her breath and then she saw the dragonling just a touch from her, its right front paw bleeding.

'_The child you bear will protect my baby, he'll be the last one of your line that would have a link with one of us, if he remains true to the ancient vow, our race would be saved…'_

The little dragon stretched its paw to her; the woman kept looking at it, not knowing what to do.

'_Drink it…'_

Narcissa got into a state resembling a trance; she grabbed the paw with unsure hands and then leaned into it, liking and then sucking the crimson blood. A dumb pain slowly overcame her, but she continued drinking until she felt daggers being pushed into her tummy, she cried in pain and curled herself in the floor, the dragonling dissolving in thin air in front of her.

'_The blood would reach the life inside you and will strengthen it, my baby would live within yours until adulthood, when the right time came he'd know everything… until then he'd live oblivious to it… And you… you must forget…!'_

Narcissa felt a line of fire crossing her mind and she cried loudly, feeling her body twisting in pain, then suddenly it was gone and she was in a tight ball, panting on the floor of the parlor.

She got herself up, she didn't remember to have fallen and she glanced around her, looking for the cause of her position on the floor. The parlor was empty, the light illuminating it from the untouched window fading in the sunset. She frowned in confusion; it was not like her to faint without reason. She considered the strange situation for a while but finally she shrugged and turned around, calling the house elf to get dinner ready.


	2. A new turn of events

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J., I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Warning:** This story would have some Major HBP spoilers, as it more or less continues from the point the book finished, be warned.

**Chapter 01.** **A new turn of events.**

"_Run Draco!"_

He was running, as fast as he could, though he didn't remember why. Snape's command was still in his head. He didn't know how long he had been running but he couldn't stop, not yet, he hadn't reached the place he was supposed to be; he hadn't a clue where said place was but he had to get to it, and he must do it soon because he was about to collapse from exhaustion. Still, he kept running, he was getting close, he could feel it.

* * *

Harry Potter was wandering in the night between the ashes and debris that long ago had been Godric's Hollow. He didn't know what he was looking for, maybe some kind of signal that told him what he had to do, or maybe he just had wanted to enjoy his depression in peace.

He was alone; he had escaped from Bill's wedding because it didn't seem right to be in a party when Dumbledore's death was still too fresh in his mind. No one seemed to understand this, his need for solitude, for grief, all of them insisted in wanting him to look happy and The Burrow had become an asphyxiating place.

Everything had seemed to go downhill since Dumbledore's burial for Harry. Hermione and Ron had been planning to accompany him to his uncle's house in Surrey, he had have to go there one last time and he had been hopping to stay as little as possible, but when they had arrived to King's Cross station his family hadn't been there; Mr. Weasley and Mad eye Moody had took them to Grimmauld place, which was the last place Harry had wanted to go, and there they had found out that Privet Drive had been completely wiped out of the map, inhabitants included.

No one knew how it had been possible; they supposed that Dumbledore's wards around Potter's family's house had crumpled when the elder wizard had died. It hardly mattered. The fact was that Privet Drive had ceased to exist.

The disturbing part was that Harry had felt worse for Mrs. Figg and her cats than for his family, everybody had given him condolences without him really registering what the big deal was, but he had felt greatly relieved when the tears had come at last that night. He had wept for his family and had felt human again.

Anyway, he had thought that he could start his search for the horcruxes sooner, but he had not counted on the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore may be gone for good, but the Order didn't break apart and some of its members thought that the main priority was to keep Harry safe, in a place where he could continue his training.

Hogwarts was for the moment out of the question, the castle had surprised them all when it had closed itself the moment the last student was out of it, the few teachers that had pretended to stay behind to take care of things and Filch had all found themselves being pulled out of the building and couldn't get back inside, no matter how hard they had tried. It had seemed like only the house elves had been allowed to stay with two exceptions: Kreacher and Dobby had appeared in Grimmauld place the following day, the first because he wasn't a Hogwarts' elf and had felt the pull of the house that was the home of the family he now served, the fact that said family currently consisted of Harry Potter was a nuisance that gave the elf continued cause of complain; Dobby was there simply because he had wanted to follow Harry Potter, and he could do it because technically he was a free elf.

The Order had wanted Harry to stay in Grimmauld place, but the boy had adamantly refused, he hadn't wanted to stay there, even though it was his property now, he just wasn't comfortable in the big, dark house.

So, he had ended at the Weasley's, and The Burrow had been subjected to severe security measures and constant vigilance since then. Harry was starting to feel caged. Another thing to add to his growing annoyance was that he had discovered that no one was looking for Snape, he had had the hope that the Order would hunt the bastard down, and he felt frustrated that no one really cared where the man was or what he was doing, they seemed to have contented themselves with the knowledge that Snape couldn't reveal the Order's headquarters' location.

It had turned out that Albus had exchanged his post as secret-keeper for the fidelius charm with someone else before the tragic night of his decease, which made many Order members to wonder if perhaps the old man had known what would happen to him, at that turn of events they decided that they couldn't risk to be mistaken about what happened that night and even the ones that were more outraged by Snape's treachery didn't lift a finger to try and find him. Harry couldn't believe that they were going to let Dumbledore's death go unpunished, but that was clearly what all of them were going to do.

To make things worse, everyone was avoiding talking of Voldemort and serious problems in front of Harry, these past weeks all he had heard about was of Bill and Fleur's wedding. He was tired of being treated like a child, he had a quest to initiate and he felt like he was losing his time. On the day of the wedding, Harry had decided that he wouldn't wait for Ron and Hermione, he had have enough time to think about it and he had wanted to go to Godric's Hollow alone.

And there he was, looking at the shattered remains of his lost childhood, wondering what he had expected to find, he had been so sure that he had to go, that this would be the place to start his quest, but now he didn't know what to do next.

He was looking at the star filled sky when he heard noise behind him, he turned, wand in hand, to see what it was. The night was pitch black but he could distinguish movement, something was approaching, he could feel it; he got down of the mound of debris on which he had been standing and waited for the thing to get nearer.

It was someone running by the sound of it, a dim silhouette was being slowly recognizable from the dark, and whichever he or she was probably hadn't notice Harry yet, even when the boy had his wand lit. Harry waited expectantly until the person was near enough for him to distinguish white-blond hair; the figure of a well known boy made itself clear, he was running towards Harry but gave no indication of acknowledgement.

Harry was utterly surprised to see Malfoy there, for a moment he thought that someone had discovered him, but he had been careful in his escapade and his travel, he was sure nobody had noticed him, besides, Malfoy seemed to be alone and was clearly going to collide with him if he didn't make his presence known soon. Harry took a step forward and shouted.

"Malfoy!"

The blond froze a few steps away from Harry, silver eyes wide opened in surprise, recognition slowly making its way in his brain. The two boys stayed like that for a couple of seconds, eventually Malfoy seemed to remember that oxygen was a necessary supplement for life, but had some troubles to breath and get out of his shock at the same time.

"… P-Pot…"

There wasn't enough air in his lungs for him to finish the word, at that moment his legs remembered that they were indeed exhausted and Malfoy fell to his knees and hands, panting.

'_No! No, no, no… Why? __Of all the people in this world why do I have to find Potter?'_

He made a desperate attempt to collect himself and stop trembling, to not seem so weak, but soon realized the futility of his efforts; he simply wasn't going to be on his feet again any time soon. He was slightly aware of the other boy approaching him, he still heard a worried voice calling his surname before his brain shut down and his body finished its short trip to the ground.

Harry was starting to panic, he tried to shook Malfoy's still form a couple of times before convincing himself that the Slytherin was out and not likely to wake at his frantic calls. He tried to calm down and remembered that Malfoy had been running, maybe someone had been chasing him, Harry looked around, straining his ears trying to catch any noise that could give away Malfoy's pursuers. Nothing. The night was as still and silent as when he had first arrived.

Harry looked at the unmoving form again and scowled, wondering what he should do now, as much as he despised Malfoy's beliefs he wasn't about to abandon the blond in the middle of nowhere when he clearly needed help. The question was where he could take the Slytherin and how he was going to manage a trip on his broom carrying Malfoy's still form? He could apparate quite well, but he had never attempted to do it while carrying someone else and he preferred to not attract Ministry attention just yet.

Finally he decided that he could take a little help and lifted his wand to call the Knight bus, the vehicle was still operating with an Auror aboard to enforce security. Harry greeted at the sour looking man currently taking Stan Shunpike's place and got himself and Malfoy in the bus, trying his best to be ignored by the Auror at the back of it. The bus started its crazy race, and the driver asked.

"Where to kid?"

Harry thought about it for a moment, then remembering that Malfoy had gone off with Snape imagined that the blond would know where the man was and that the Order should be informed of it, that way they wouldn't have excuses for not get into action. He told the driver the direction of muggle London that were closer to Grimmauld Place and the driver only nodded in comprehension.

* * *

Harry still had to walk a while to get to number twelve Grimmauld Place, because of the heavy wards surrounding the property that would only let a few chosen people to get throw them on feet. Eventually he arrived to the big old house and entered, he made all the way to the living room and had time to deposit Malfoy on a couch before a frantic and worried Lupin appeared and grabbed him by the arms, turning him almost forcefully.

"Harry! Merlin Harry where have you been?"

"Easy Remus. You're hurting me."

"Harry that was very stupid of you! Have you had any idea of how worried we were?"

"Jesus Remus I'm not a child! I can take care of myself well enough!"

Harry managed to free himself with some difficulties; he hated the way everybody seemed now to worry about him. Lupin tried to cool himself.

"Don't do that again Harry! Merlin. I have to call Molly and tell her you're all right!"

Harry saw that Remus hadn't noticed Malfoy's body yet; he sighed and pulled at the werewolf's arm.

"I'm sorry Remy, I wasn't in the mood for parties and I wanted to be alone."

"That's ok Harry; just tell someone where you are going to be when you want your solitude, ok?"

"Ok. Well, don't you think we have to call some members of the Order?"

"Sure, to tell them that you are fine and… Oh."

Lupin's eyes finally landed on the blond boy's unconscious form and Harry was hard pressed not to laugh at the surprised look on his friend's face.

"Malfoy! Harry what happened?"

"I found him, I don't know where he came from, but he just collapsed in front of me."

"Where?"

"Near here." Harry was unwilling to confess to Remus where he had been, the man seemed to accept his answer.

"Are you sure he was alone Harry? They could have been spying us."

"Yes, no one had followed us." Harry wasn't so sure of that, but he supposed that if someone had seen Malfoy with him they should had been attacked.

"Well, maybe he could give us information. I'm going to contact McGonagall and Moody; we'll see what they think. Why don't you return to The Burrow?"

Harry considered this, and decided that he wanted to be there if they were to question Malfoy, and he wasn't going to let them keep him uninformed this time.

"I'll like to stay Remy, I found him and I want to know what will happen to him, besides, he was running off when he crossed me and he just collapsed, he may be hurt or maybe wanting to hide."

"Mmm. Nothing to do with wanting to know where Snape is?" asked the man, knowingly.

"A little." Harry accepted. "Don't you want to know?"

Remus sighed and threw a suspicious glance at the blond boy, they had already sheltered a spy, he didn't want to take another chance, but Harry had told him that Malfoy hadn't wanted to murder anyone, he was still a boy and Lupin doubted that someone so young could ever consider killing someone in cold blood if not forced. Then again that was what he had thought about Snape.

"You'll take him to one of the rooms and I'll call the Order and a healer, maybe Madam Pomfrey. Make sure to take his wand."

"Ok."

Harry called Kreacher and ordered him to prepare a bedroom, when the elf saw who their new guest was it was more than happy to comply; Harry only sighed and levitated Malfoy to the bedroom, careful not to bump him on the stairs. Once there, Harry took Malfoy's shoes and cloak looking for the boy's wand, but he didn't found it and he frowned in annoyance, he had been sure that the last time he had seen Malfoy the blond had have his wand. He searched more thoroughly for it without result, finally deciding that Malfoy must have lost it. Harry was thinking about what could possibly happen to the Slytherin for him to lose his wand, then his eyes rested on Malfoy's left wrist, curiosity got the better of him and he grabbed the blonde's arm, pulling away the sleeve and looked. The wrist was clean; apart from a few scratches it was free of any trace of the Dark Mark. So, Malfoy wasn't a Death Eater after all, that was a surprise, but Harry found himself being glad for it; after all Malfoy could be fond of the dark arts, but he wasn't a murderer.

His discovery left him thinking again. Malfoy had been alone, clearly exhausted and without wand; that seemed to reinforce Harry's theory of the boy running away, he asked himself what had happened. Malfoy stirred in his sleep, his brow frowning a little in unease, he moved to his side and blond hair covered his face. Harry watched him, waiting to see if he would wake but no such luck, Malfoy continued sleeping now in foetal position on his left side, Harry couldn't help but think that the boy looked so vulnerable like that, he covered the still form with the blankets and was about to left the room when the door opened and Madam Pomfrey made her way in.

"Mr. Potter! How glad to see you're all right."

"Yeah, well, there was nothing to worry about in the first place."

The mediwitch huffed, not sharing Harry's point of view, and hurried to the boy in the bed. Harry wanted to know if something was wrong with Malfoy, he had just taken the unconscious boy from the street and was feeling oddly protective, but someone took hold of his arm and pulled him out of the room, Harry turned annoyingly to found himself face to face with Moody.

"Well, well Potter. Found something interesting it seems. Right?"

"Um, yes."

Harry looked around the corridor; Remus was also there, along with Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

"Harry!" said Hermione "What happened?"

"Besides from finding Malfoy running in the night, nothing interesting Hermione." He answered, not looking forward to the unstoppable questions they were about to throw him.

"Dude! Where did you go anyway? And has the git tell something useful?"

"No, he had been pretty much out all this time." Said Harry; ignoring his friend's first question. Moody let out a sarcastic laugh and said.

"It may be better to have him here; when he wakes up we can make him some questions. Why don't you lot return to where you're supposed to be?"

"Yes Harry." Said Ginny, taking the boy's arm. "Mom is worried about you."

"But, I want to be here when Malfoy wakes up, I have some questions too."

"I seriously doubt that the boy wakes this night, and even if he does I think that a few members of the Order should question him first, and make sure that he's truly alone and not dangerous."

"He doesn't have his wand with him." Insisted Harry. "And he doesn't have the Dark Mark either, I checked."

"That's not guarantee of his intentions Potter. We must be sure that he's not bait."

"But…"

"Harry, come on." Said Lupin conciliatory. "You know we can't take any chances now, and you can come here whenever you want, I'll keep you informed."

Hermione and Ron contributed to take Harry over to the fireplace and convinced him of going back to The Burrow; Harry gave up after making Remus promise that he would contact him if Malfoy regained his senses and took the floo after Ginny.

Later that night, Madam Pomfrey declared Malfoy in good health and that his unconsciousness was due only to over exhaustion, she believed that the boy must have been running for hours, she said that they must let him rest and have some fortifying potions when he waked and left. Tonks arrived sometime later and she and Lupin took residence in one of the upper rooms, leaving Moody to inform the members of the Order he thought should be warned of the events.

As soon as he was alone, Moody made his way to a room that used to be the study in the big house, he locked the door, making sure that not even those two troublesome house elves could come in and put fire in the fireplace, he threw a special blue powder in it and waited a moment until the flames took a bluish colour and a hooded figure appeared in it. Moody smirked, knowing quite well that what he was doing was pretty dangerous, but the man that had handed him the powder had assured him that no one would be able to track or even to know that he was making contact with someone, and he deeply trusted that man, they have no other choice anyway, he approached the fireplace and acknowledged the figure.

"He's here, he's safe for now. Tomorrow I'll make sure Potter stays too."

There was no answer, Moody wasn't expecting one, the figure only nodded and disappeared, the fire took its normal color again and Moody extinguished it, then he left, he still had to fire-call some people of the Order, he had to ensure that the Malfoy boy would be left alone after that.


	3. Questions and decisions

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Chapter 02.****Questions and decisions.**

_Draco was flying, he could feel the force of the air wiping his face and he was not alone, something big was beside him, Draco didn't know what it was but somehow he felt that it was really important for him to stay at its side, which was becoming increasingly hard. He was tired, soon he knew he wouldn't be able to fly anymore, but he must continue, something was following them close by, it was catching up with them and somehow Draco knew it was something very bad…_

Malfoy woke up with a gasp and straightened in the bed, feeling like he was about to die. He took a deep intake of breath and waited for the world to stop spinning and the angst lingering from the dream to fade. After a while he collected himself enough to take a good look at his surroundings, panic started to made its way in his brain when he realized he didn't have a clue of where he was.

The room was big and dark, there was a big window at his left covered by a heavy curtain, he could see pale light trying to filter into the room, maybe it was day outside. Draco put panic into submission and got to his feet, the world swirled dangerously for a moment but he could walk over to the window and drew away the curtains.

He stared into the big garden that extended outside. It was in a clearly state of neglect, wild vines and weed grew everywhere around the statues and a big fountain, the boy couldn't distinguish the plants that used to grow there, but he could spot an abandoned garden table. It wasn't Malfoy manor but it was familiar, Draco felt like he had seen that garden before, probably in much better conditions. It was surrounded by a high wall; the boy couldn't see what was on the other side of it because of a heavy fog that seemed to surround the property.

Draco scowled and left the window to take a look at the room where he was, noticing also that he still was wearing his Hogwarts uniform, however this didn't seem to be Hogwarts, he couldn't picture a room like this inside the school. It was big, the floor was covered in a dusty carpet, the four poster bed was big and very old, a bare night table was on its right side, on the wall opposite the bed was a battered looking mantle piece and the frame of an old portrait which was empty now, on the other wall was a wooden wardrobe, big enough to cover half of it, and the door.

Malfoy looked at the door, he wanted to get out of the bedroom and discover where he was, his head was hurting a little and he still felt very tired. He wished he had any idea of what was happening, he tried to remember the last thing he had done before falling asleep and had a hard time doing it. A faint memory of him fighting verbally with professor Snape was all he got, although he couldn't remember the precise reason of the fight.

His headache increased a little and he sat on the bed side, wishing it to go. A loud double 'POP' made him lift his eyes and was surprised to see two house elves in front of him, both looking at him with large eyes, the oldest one spoke first.

"Master Malfoy sir, you awake."

The other immediately disappeared with another loud 'POP'. Draco scowled at the remaining elf, trying to remember if he had known it before, his pounding head not helping in the least.

"Who are you?" his voice was a bit rough and his scowl deepened at it.

"My name's Kreacher sir. Sir may not remind me. Sir was too young last time he visited."

"Really? And where exactly I am?"

The creature opened his mouth to answer but before any sound could came out of his mouth, the door opened and a flustered Harry Potter entered the room, Malfoy's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the Gryffindor.

"Malfoy, you're finally awake! We were starting to think you had some kind of spell on you!"

'_Finally?_ _Wait a second 'We'?'_

Draco scowled again at the raven haired boy who ignored him and turned to the house elf.

"Kreacher, bring Malfoy something to eat and drink I'm sure he must be hungry after four days of sleep."

'_What?_ _That long?'_

Malfoy could feel his mouth hanging open in surprise as the elf disappeared and Potter brought a chair that was beside the night table to sit in front of the dumbstruck Draco and stared at him.

"Well, how do you feel?"

Draco shut his mouth and immediately got into defensive mode.

"Why do you care Potter?" He snapped, managing to glare at the boy, Harry scowled and sighed.

"Look Malfoy I know that we don't get along at all, and that we despise each other, that doesn't have to change, but Dumbledore offered you help and I'm willing to offer it too."

Draco remained in the same position, his mind was trying to process what Potter was telling him, after a while he asked very carefully.

"Dumbledore offered me help? Why?"

Harry lifted an eyebrow.

"Well, you looked like you needed it, you were desperate and Dumbledore was offering you a way out… Malfoy?"

Draco was very pale. What the hell had happened?

"How exactly I arrived here Potter? This isn't Hogwarts."

Harry looked at him suspiciously.

"Well, I brought you here. I found you at Godric's Hollow and you collapsed in front of me."

"And what the hell I was doing there?"

He didn't even know where Godric's Hollow was. Potter gave him a look of incredulity.

"How I'm supposed to know? You came running out of nowhere and stopped just a few meters in front of me, and then you fainted. You seemed… well like you were running from something. You don't remember?"

Malfoy was starting to feel very frustrated, he couldn't remember being anywhere other than Hogwarts, worrying over a stupid piece of furniture that refused to cooperate. His headache was getting worse and he really wanted to know where he was and what had happened with his mission. But first he wanted to know why Potter was being so bloody nice!

"So, I lost consciousness and you brought me to a safe place? I don't believe it Potter. Where is this place?"

"Look Malfoy, maybe the idea of helping someone had never occurred to you, but I couldn't leave you in the middle of the street! You were in pretty bad shape and exhausted, and I believed someone was after you!"

"And you just helped the desperate soul in need? Always the bloody hero Potter?"

Harry groaned inwards, somehow he hadn't counted on Malfoy being his usual annoying prat. He had been willing to believe that maybe the boy had changed a little. Kreacher appeared with some sandwiches and pumpkin juice at that moment and Harry gladly took the opportunity to ignore what Malfoy had said.

"Thanks Kreacher. You can go now."

The elf gave a fast look over to Malfoy and then disappeared; the blond boy had not taken his eyes from the Gryffindor.

"Well? Why did you help me Potter?" Harry looked again at his companion, and scowled slightly.

"I just did it. Ok Malfoy? Maybe you would have left me to my own devices if it was me the one who needed help, but thankfully I'm not like you and as I said before, Dumbledore offered you protection and you were about to accept it. I'm sure you would have done it and I'm pretty sure that you still need help, so what about you stop being your usual spoiled brat self for a while? We can offer you a safe place."

Malfoy stared coldly at the green eyes in front of him, he didn't believe that Potter was offering him help out of the goodness of his heart, the boy and that old headmaster would surely want a little 'cooperation' from him, his headache was getting worse by the minute but he refused to acknowledge it, instead he smirked and said mockingly.

"Oh, yes Potter? And don't you even want to know who you are offering help to? Let me show you!"

Malfoy yanked away his left sleeve and presented his arm to Potter, the black haired boy looked at it and sighed, he offered an apologetic smile to Malfoy who was surprised to not have gotten the reaction he had expected.

"Yes, about that, I really should apologize to you. I was convinced that you would be too glad to take the mark and I didn't consider the possibility that you actually didn't want to. It's good that you have escaped it, if you accept our offer and stay here Voldemort wouldn't have any way to make you do anything, I really don't wish that fate to anyone, not even to you."

Malfoy got an ill feeling in the pit of his stomach; he cautiously lowered his eyes to stare at his very bare left wrist, his mouth went suddenly dry while he heard Potter continue talking.

"I want to apologize too for the curse I cast you when we were still in the school, I had no idea of what it was going to do and it was really stupid of me to have used it."

Malfoy nodded absentmindedly, not taking his eyes from his arm. At that moment they heard a voice calling for Harry and the dark haired boy stood up.

"Oh, that must be Remus; I have to tell the others that you are awake. Just try to eat a little ok? They probably would want to talk with you, and well, actually I want to ask you a few questions too. I'll be back in a while."

Malfoy nodded again and heard the door close when Potter got out. His head was pounding now and he was still trying to make sense of his unmarred wrist. This shouldn't be possible, how could it be? He remembered clearly having taking that damn mark, the pain it implied was not something he would ever forget in his entire life! The Dark Lord had forced it onto him so he could have a hold on Draco's actions and hunt him easily if the boy tried to escape. And now it was gone!

Mechanically, Draco reached for the pumpkin juice, he wasn't hungry just thirsty, and his head insisted in wanting to play the trumpet. Finally Draco accepted the fact that the Dark Mark was no longer with him, he couldn't help but feel immensely relieved by it, he didn't even want to know how it happened as long as it remained that way and the damned Dark Lord wouldn't find him.

He finished the pumpkin juice just in time to see Potter reappearing through the door followed by his one time DADA professor Remus Lupin. He frowned at the pair, wanting very much to tell them to sod off but then he remembered Potter mentioning the fact that there was other people in that place that would want to question him. He smirked to himself, of course they would want something from him, no one was going to offer him help for free and surely Dumbledore would want information. They were in for a surprise because Draco couldn't remember a thing that could be of importance to them.

Malfoy lifted his eyes to the werewolf and asked himself what they would do when it became obvious that he was no use to them, a noise at the door distracted him and he saw Madam Pomfrey entering the room followed closely by Alastor Moody and McGonagall. He sighed in resignation and forced himself to ignore the dull pain of his head and appear composed, Madam Pomfrey huffed and started to examine him, out of the corner of his eye he could see Moody approaching Potter.

"Mr. Potter, please wait outside."

The Gryffindor wasn't pleased with the request but nodded and complied. As soon as Harry was out of the room Malfoy felt himself relax a little. Good, at least Potter wasn't going to testify his humiliation; he hated to appear weak in front of the raven haired boy. Almost instantly though, he started to feel nervous. What if they decided that he was not worth the trouble? What was he going to do then? Potter had told him that Dumbledore had offered him protection. He wondered where the old man was and if he was going to appear when the interrogatory started.

* * *

Outside the room Harry paced the Hall impatiently, he had wanted to be there and listen to the questions, he wanted to know if the blond could give them useful information, preferably something that could lead them to Snape, but he also felt as if Malfoy was his responsibility, he had been truly worried when he had returned to Grimmauld place the day after he had brought the blond and had discovered that Malfoy hadn't yet woken up. That same day Moody had asked him to stay in the house for a couple of days because they had an emergency and almost the entirety of the Order had to go to some remote place to try and stop a werewolf attack, and they preferred to not leave Malfoy alone. Harry had accepted and he had watched over the blond the four days that he had remained unconscious. Harry had even called Madam Pomfrey again after the second day, but the woman had assured him that everything was alright and that they only had to wait.

So Harry had impatiently waited and he had stayed at Malfoy's bedside for sometime, willing the boy to open his eyes and looking at him more carefully. Malfoy had looked so vulnerable when he had been asleep, maybe that was why Harry had started to believe that the blond had changed somehow, and he still believed it, he could feel that Malfoy had changed even if the Slytherin was struggling to keep his façade in place, Harry was sure that something had changed.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his friends climbing up the stairs, he stopped his pacing and turned to the noise, soon Ron and Hermione appeared followed by Ginny.

"Harry! Tonks told us that Malfoy has woken up!" said Hermione, Harry nodded at her while Ginny wrapped her arms around him and he absentmindedly hugged her in return, then his attention returned to the Slytherin in question.

"Yes, McGonagall and the others are with him now."

"Gezz Harry! Sorry to have left you alone for a little while, but mom wanted us to be sure that we have practised every protection spell known!"

"Come on Ron, it wasn't that bad!" said Ginny, finally disentangling herself from Harry. "She just wants us to be prepared for everything."

"Yeah. Constant vigilance as Moody is always saying!" said Ron with a grin.

Harry smiled at them; the four friends had been bussing themselves with fixing the house and place the items that had been stolen by Mundungus Fletcher, the majority of which had been retrieved by Moody, to their proper places; though Harry and Ginny had been the ones to do most of the work, because Hermione and Ron had been lost in a world of their own.

Truth be told, Ginny was envious of her brother, she had wanted to be alone with Harry and get him to kiss her passionately, they should be taking advantage of their time together before he went away, but Harry had been evading her and since the night of Bill's wedding his mind was always wandering back to Malfoy, making conjectures about the events that could have lead to the blond falling exhausted at Harry's feet. Ginny had noticed Harry's change towards her and was getting really upset and blaming it all on Malfoy's reappearance, thinking that the boy had reminded Harry of Dumbledore's death and how dangerous the situation now was.

The truth however was that Harry had been changing his mind about Ginny since they got into the Hogwarts express for the last time. At first he had thought that he was worried about what could happen to her, but after some days of staying at The Burrow and getting free daily shows from Ron and Hermione snogging, seeing the constant interaction between Bill and Fleur, and the visits of Remus and Tonks, he had got a clearer picture of what if really meant to be in love, and he had started to ponder what he felt for Ginny.

He had ended up very confused. He liked Ginny, he wanted to keep her safe and happy, and he liked it when she was near him and the occasional kiss she gave him, but he was no longer sure if that was love. The way Bill and Fleur acted towards each other was… well, different. Harry discovered that he craved for solitude, nor once he had shared with Ginny his thoughts or the way he was feeling about the rest of the Order treating him as if he was still a child, he even got annoyed if he had been thinking about something important and Ginny suddenly interrupted him. It didn't bother him if she wanted to hug and kiss him, he felt ok with her, but it was not the same, when Remus and Tonks were lying on the couch on each others arms they radiated happiness, Harry doubted he felt that way when he was with Ginny, not even that relaxed.

But he didn't want to upset Ginny and so he didn't share his insights with her, telling himself that given sometime he will figure out how deep his feelings were. At the moment, the four teenagers went down to the kitchen to join Tonks for a snack while they waited for the interrogatory to finish.

* * *

Only a quarter of an hour later, the adults got into the kitchen and Harry was on his feet instantly, ready to ask what had happened, he restrained himself upon seeing the worried face of Lupin, Moody and McGonagall were arguing.

"I do not agree with the idea Alastor, we can't really trust him. It's an unnecessary risk!"

"Minerva, there's no other place where we could keep an eye on him at all times. Besides, I really doubt he could do any damage without his wand."

"But it is our meeting point! And sometimes we have left the house alone, you know that! Even without a wand we can't risk leaving him with only the house elves!"

"I agree on that point Moody." said Lupin while he sat beside Tonks. "You know how Kreacher is; even with specific instructions the creature could still make a nasty move on us."

Moody took a seat and seemed to be considering his companions words. Harry coughed significantly to draw attention to him and asked:

"What happened? Malfoy doesn't want to cooperate?" He was a little disappointed, he had been sure that Malfoy would be willing to give them information in exchange of protection. Moody turned to look at the raven-haired boy seriously.

"He can't very well do it. He had been obliviated."

The four teenagers were surprised to hear that, Ron even let out a loud "What?" and Harry sighed in frustration. It made sense after all, that explained why Malfoy was having a hard time getting hold of what Harry had been telling him.

"I don't think it would be wise to allow him to stay here." Said McGonagall seriously. "Even if he really had been running away there is a high probability that someone is looking for him. Either way he is a risk."

"And where do you propose we send him?" asked Tonks not looking at anyone in particular.

"Well," said Madam Pomfrey "I would say that Hogwarts would be ideal, but I really doubt the castle would let us inside itself any time soon."

"Wait a minute." Said Harry, getting somewhat alarmed. "What are you talking about? You are not going to help him?"

"We aren't saying that Harry." Said Remus hurriedly. "We are only pointing out the fact that he is a risk."

"But Dumbledore offered him help!" Harry was scandalized, he hadn't thought that there was the possibility that the rest of the Order wouldn't want to help Malfoy. Moody raised an eyebrow to him and said matter of factly:

"Well, he can't remember that now."

"That's not the point!" the boy snapped angrily "I was there too!"

"Yes Harry and I distinctly remember you telling us that Mr. Malfoy was the one who had been ordered to kill Albus Dumbledore." Said McGonagall.

"But he didn't do it! He couldn't do it, he's not a murderer! He was lowering his wand! He was about to accept Dumbledore's offer when the Death Eaters arrived!"

"Take it easy young man." Said Pomfrey in a conciliatory voice. "Minerva is only worried, the boy is a risk after all, we can help him but perhaps it would be preferable for him not to stay in this house, that's all."

"But why not?" Harry insisted "This is the safest place on England! Even more than Hogwarts! It's unplottable and no one can speak about it!"

"We can send him outside the country," Tonks proposed "maybe with Charlie now that he's going back to Romania to reunite with our supporters there."

"But," said Hermione doubtfully "the Death Eaters could follow him; wouldn't that be a greater risk?"

"I'm afraid, Miss Granger, that I would prefer him far away from here. If he's still on the dark side he can do greater damage here." McGonagall concluded; Harry was getting annoyed with her.

"But he's not! Voldemort was forcing him to do his biding, and he doesn't have the Dark Mark! Maybe he's fond of the dark arts but he doesn't want to follow Voldemort! We should be willing to attract more people to our side!"

"Harry, please listen," said Remus in an effort to ease the boy "we have already made a mistake with Snape, we didn't trust Malfoy. I think he would be better in a place where someone can watch over him all the time."

"And boy," said Moody again "the truth is that while this house is unplottable and maybe the safest place in London right now, it is completely alone from time to time. And while I don't think that would be a problem if the boy really wants to stay alive and away from the Death Eaters, I must admit that is true that we can't trust him. Maybe if someone, who's not a house elf, were here to take care of the house. I really don't think that a wandless Malfoy could cause any major damage with a competent wizard in charge."

"But there's no one available at the moment." Said Minerva. "We have our hands full, and the Ministry of Magic is also pressuring us. Scrimgeour has the idea that we should know how to find You-know-who!"

"I'll do it." Said Harry, and his friends turned to look at him in disbelief. Moody looked at him incredously.

"You what boy?"

"I'll stay here. I can train here the same I can train in any other place."

Remus looked surprised at him.

"But Harry, I had thought that you didn't want to live in this house, and that you were comfortable with the Weasleys."

"Well, it is my house after all, I'm fine with the Weasleys but I'm a risk to them too…"

"Mate!"

"And I offered Malfoy help too! This is the only place where he could be safe, without the Dark Mark Voldemort wouldn't find him and he can't make Malfoy go to him either. And Malfoy can help us, maybe not with information, but we need as many supporters as we can get, with his knowledge of the dark arts he can even help me with the training!"

"Not without a wand." Muttered Ron scowling, Harry choose to ignore him for the moment, everybody else was silent for some seconds, finally Moody stood up.

"Well, it's settled then! You're right Potter, you can very well train here, and after all it would be a lot safer that way."

"But…" McGonagall didn't seem convinced. "Harry, are you sure you want to stay here with Mr. Malfoy? How can I know that the both of you wouldn't hex each other the moment we turn our backs?"

Harry blushed slightly but recovered quickly.

"Mmm, professor, he doesn't have a wand. Surely you don't think I will hex him if he's unarmed."

McGonagall only lifted an eyebrow to him, Harry's blush reappeared.

"Professor I wouldn't do it!" Harry managed to sound very offended and everyone smiled amusingly.

"Very well, if you're sure you want to do this. It's after all your house."

The woman finally agreed reluctantly, though truth be told, all the adults were pretty relieved by Harry's decision, in the last weeks the boy had grown restless and they all feared that he would do something stupid like run away and try to find Voldemort by himself. So they didn't really put a fight at Harry's request to baby-sit Malfoy, after all, what the blond could do without a wand?

"He'll be fine professor." Said Tonks. "Besides, he wouldn't be completely alone, we all will be here from time to time."

"All right then!" said Moody again. "Now we can return to our activities, I have to be at Diagon Alley. You Potter can tell Malfoy your terms of agreement as soon as he wakes up."

"What?" said Harry worriedly. "He's sleeping again? What's the matter with him?"

"Don't worry Harry" said Remus, seeing the anxiety in Harry's eyes, he knew the boy well enough to know that he would feel responsible for Malfoy's well being. "He reported a headache and Madam Pomfrey gave him a pain killer potion that put him to sleep, he should be awake in an hour or so."

Harry rolled his eyes, if Malfoy continued to be sick he would have to make sure to put some basic medical potions in the blonde's room, he won't be playing nurse any longer than necessary.

McGonagall, Pomfrey and Moody left, Lupin and Tonks were staying at the house for a couple of days more, so they said that Harry could go and retrieve the rest of his belongings from The Burrow, and the boy followed his friends to the floo system to do just that.

Harry had just stepped outside the fireplace in the Weasleys' living room when he was assaulted by a very flustered Ron.

"Harry mate! Why did you say that you are a risk to us? That's not true!"

Harry sighed, resigned to his fate, and looked to his best friend.

"Ron, we both know that I am. I don't want to put your family in any more danger."

"Harry, all of us are already in danger." Said Ginny seriously. "Having you with us is a comfort not a problem."

"Yes Harry! We are glad to have you here!"

"I know! Look, I really like to be here, but I think that right now it would be better if I train in Grimmauld place, besides, maybe Malfoy would remember something useful."

"He's Malfoy Harry!" said Ginny rolling her eyes. "Do you really think he'll really want to help?"

"Well, maybe not in a normal basis, but now he needs us, it would be to his benefit if we win this war."

"I don't know Harry" Hermione said doubtfully "After all; it is Malfoy we are talking about, what if he decides that You-Know-Who is a suitable master after all?"

"He won't do it Hermione, I saw him in the Astronomy tower, and he was scared. Look, I don't trust him either, he's a spoiled prat and he's too fond of the dark arts for my comfort, I really doubt that we can be friends but we can prevent him from becoming another one of Voldemort's puppets."

"I suppose you have a point." Hermione agreed, Ron scowled at this, not very sure of it.

They heard Mrs. Weasley's voice calling from the kitchen and Ginny left them to go with her mother, Ron continued the conversation as soon as his sister was out of hearing range.

"I thought that you wanted to start your search mate."

Harry shrugged and answered.

"Yes, to tell you the truth I have been anxious to start it, but I have been thinking about it and Dumbledore said that I would have to be very careful and know my enemy as well as I could, so if I want to know where Voldemort would hide something so precious as an horcrux I have to do more research and learn more about him and the first time he gained power."

Upon hearing the word research Hermione's face brightened and Harry smiled at her, he knew she was going to like that part.

"Besides, it would be no use to go wandering through the entire England, Grimmauld place would be a perfect base, we can move to other places from there."

"And what about Godric's Hollow? You wanted to start from there." Asked Ron. Harry bitted his lower lip nervously.

"Oh, well… you see, actually that's where I found Malfoy."

Both Hermione and Ron stared wide eyed at him.

"What? You went there alone?" Ron almost yelled and Harry did frantic hushing sounds.

"Oh Harry! You should have waited for us!"

Hermione berated him, Harry was about to snap at them when Mrs. Weasley appeared, all flustered and worried, having been told by Ginny what had happened with Malfoy and Harry's decision.

The Gryffindor boy tried his best to ease Molly, and taking in account that she would be able to go and check on him whenever she wanted, she finally decided that it wasn't so bad an idea and that maybe Harry and his friends would be a good influence over the Malfoy boy, the teenagers really doubted that Malfoy would let himself be influenced by them but they kept their mouths shut.

Ron and Hermione ended up moving with Harry to Grimmauld place, and Ginny stayed at the Burrow to help her mother, she was a bit miffed that Harry would no longer be living with her. She had been counting on her mother to convince Harry to stay at the Burrow and let the Order take care of Malfoy. She didn't like the Slytherin and couldn't comprehend what help could he give them that they truly needed, he was only a nuisance and Ginny was sure that he would bring a lot of problems to them. She hoped that Harry would have the sense to not get tangled in the blonde's lies.

* * *

Severus Snape was reading in the study of his house at Spinner's end, but not the miserable small house that everybody saw, his study was in the real house, the house of the Princes, the one you can access to from a secret door in the kitchen of the decoy house. He had been there since the flight from Hogwarts, he had been there when the Aurors and some members of the Order had registered the battered house in search of something that could tell them where he could be, Snape had laughed at their expenses when one of them had asked how was it possible that a man like Severus Snape could live in a place like that.

They had registered what they thought was the entire house, even the two bedrooms upstairs and the tiny laboratory, without even realize that there was a hidden door in the little kitchen. It was really convenient that the only man outside the family who knew how to enter the real Prince Manor was dead.

It suited Snape really well that the Dark Lord had ordered him to disappear for a while, and even more that Pettigrew had been ordered to stay at the Lord's side, Snape despised immensely that coward traitor, and he preferred not to have to deal with him any more than necessary.

He looked at the big clock that was on a wall, frowning he put the book he was reading aside and stood up, making his way out of the study and into a long hall that leaded to a set of stairs, he climbed down getting into a dark cellar, he lighted his wand and continued walking towards the far wall on which a door could be seen. Behind the door was a passage that seemed to be dug in the rock. Snape continued walking and soon he reached a dead end and looked at the bare wall of granite in front of him. He smiled and reached out with his left hand to touch the cold stone. Until now all had been going according to plan, the problems had been kept at a minimum, soon he would have his revenge, he would retrieve what had been taken from him and the culprit will pay for it.

"Now boy, I know you're in the right place. Hurry up."


	4. The library

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Chapter 03.** **The library.**

Draco lay awake in bed, staring into the ceiling and thinking that the bed really needed some draperies; the headache was still a background of his thoughts, but it was easily ignored.

The previous day had been a complete shock to him, first he had discovered that he had spent four entire days unconscious, then he found out that he had been obliviated and had lost a good few months of his life, the last thing he remembered clearly was being in a bathroom opening his hearth to a ghost. Of course the adults, and later on Potter and his troublesome friends, had seen fit to acquaint him with the major events that had taken place since his last recollection.

He vaguely remembered having been in the Hospital Wing; Potter had explained their fight in the bathroom and had apologized again for having cast the '_Sectumsempra_'. Malfoy didn't have a clear recollection of that, Weasley had insisted in defending Potter, saying that Malfoy had probably started the whole fight. Draco had only shrugged at the suggestion; it was probably true anyway, what Potter had been expecting? He had interrupted Malfoy while the blond had been busy wallowing in self misery, of course he hadn't been about to receive his nemesis with open arms.

They had told him too about the Death Eaters' attack and Dumbledore's death, which he was still trying to assimilate. It seemed that he had succeeded on fixing the damn cabinet and got the Death Eaters inside Hogwarts. Potter had related, in all its glorious details, how Malfoy had taken away Dumbledore's wand in the Astronomy tower and his doubts at casting the killing curse, how the Headmaster had offered him help and the arrival of the Death Eaters. In the end it had been Snape who had done the killing, Draco hadn't realized how thankful he was that it had not been him the one to cast the '_Avada Kedavra'_ until he had been alone in the bedroom again and had cried his relief on the pillows. At least he wasn't a murderer.

Obviously no one had any idea of what had happened to him in the time between his escape from Hogwarts and his encounter with Potter. Malfoy sighed and turned to his side, facing the door. They were now finishing the second week of July, which meant he was of age now. Usually, as the only heir of his family, he would have had a big party to which all the important wizarding society would have attended, and his parents would have announced him officially the heir of all the Malfoy's states; the pureblooded families also had the tradition of announce the heir's engagement that same night. Draco was sure that nothing of that had happened, there had been no party, no announcement and no engagement; that last bit wasn't so bad.

He wondered briefly where Severus Snape could be, and then tried to force his mind to remember something to no avail, he only got the faint feeling that he had been running blindly for sometime.

At that point the bedroom curtains magically opened themselves to let the morning light into the room. Draco sighed in annoyance; Potter had placed that charm the night before to ensure that Malfoy would be awake in time for breakfast. Bloody boy-who-lived thought that just because this was his house he could order the habits of everyone within it. Malfoy sighed again thinking about Potter.

He was determined to not let himself crack again in front of Potter, the fainting had been bad enough, and he didn't want the Gryffindor to think him weak. He had wanted to try and make amends with Potter since he had returned to Malfoy Manor at the end of his fifth year and had learned some things about the Death Eaters and what it was like to serve the Dark Lord. He had been terrified, he would never forget the day the Dark Lord had entered the manor and taken him away, he had thought about Potter then, and had wondered how the Gryffindor could have survived to be in the monster's presence and still be sane.

The Dark Lord had demanded Draco's obedience and forced his mark on him, Malfoy had had no other choice but to comply, he knew that the Dark Lord wouldn't kill him if he disobeyed, there were much worse fates than dying, with that comprehension he had started to hate his father for having been a faithful servant of this thing.

When the past school term had started Draco had been resentful towards the entire world and angry at everyone who could have stopped Voldemort long ago and hadn't done it. Potter had been on the list too. He had believed then that his chances to try a different approach to the raven-haired boy had been nullified, but now it seemed that he had another chance, a big one, there would be no Slytherins in this house, no society, no family, no reason to be the Malfoy heir, he could be whatever he wanted and he wanted to be just Draco, thought he still wasn't sure if he could trust Potter and his friends or the rest of the adults that he had met up until now, but he wanted so badly to just let everything go and forget the mess that had been his life since the damned 'Lord' had returned and his father had been even more distant and strict than ever.

Draco turned to lay on his back again, and looked at the window, he calculated it should be around nine, he supposed a good bath would do him good and was about to get up when he remembered something. Groaning he lowered his eyes to the borrowed electric yellow pyjamas he was wearing.

That had been the most traumatic thing the day before; to realize that he had no money, no clothes of his own and that his wand was lost only the Gods knew where. Weasley had had a field day with that, and Malfoy had been short to strangle him, but had been very surprised when the red-head had actually offered to lend him some night clothes, they belonged to one of the Weasley twins and Malfoy had been twice surprised when he felt that the fabric was silk, Potter had said something about the twins having a successful business. Malfoy however cringed at the colour, it could be silk but money clearly did nothing to improve the Weasleys' taste.

He sat on the bed thinking about how nice it would be to have at least some decent clothes when someone knocked at the door and almost immediately Potter entered the room.

"Good, you're awake! I suppose you'll want to take a shower, I brought you some clothes."

Harry dropped some of his own clothes on the bed, along with a towel and clean underwear. Malfoy threw a pained look to the jeans, t-shirt and sweater that lay in front of him.

"To think that I'm forced to wear the rags you call clothes Potter." He said dispassionately.

"Well, you can always have the twins' clothes. I think they left some fuchsia and orange attire in their room the last time they stayed here."

Malfoy looked horrified at the suggestion and then narrowed his eyes at the Gryffindor.

"I hate you Potter." The black-haired boy had the nerve to grin at the blond.

"Feeling's mutual Malfoy. The bathroom is two doors to the left, don't take too long."

Harry got out of the room still grinning, leaving Malfoy to dwell in his own misery for the moment.

Harry walked down the corridor feeling oddly satisfied, they had feared that they would have to deal with Malfoy's foul mood and spoiled boy attitude, but so far the blond had been keeping his head down, he was being very accepting of the few demands they had put upon him, which consisted of helping them with the house when needed, to aid in whatever they required of him, to stay away from their private businesses and to not insult Harry's friends or Harry himself, Malfoy had rolled his eyes at that last request but had showed no other indication of disagreement. The only critical time of the day had been when Ron had joked elatedly about Malfoy's now moneyless state, which the blond had not taken well and had actually reached for a non-present wand, ending up very frustrated by his inability to properly hex Ron.

Aside from that, Malfoy had been pretty subdued, and Harry's friends thought he was still shocked by his new situation, but Harry knew that something had changed in Malfoy, he could almost feel it, maybe it was only wishful thinking on his part, because he had been willing to approach the Slytherin since he had discovered him crying in the bathroom and had been really pleased to discover that the blond wasn't a Death Eater, he didn't trust him completely but was willing to give him a chance, after all he had offered his help, maybe it was possible that they could be civil to each other.

Besides, Harry was curious about Malfoy, he had been doing a lot of thinking about many things that Dumbledore had taught him and had realized that he never had made an effort to understand the Slytherins better, and he had found himself wanting to do just that. Now he had a great opportunity to do it, Malfoy could be of much help for him, and he was anxious to start training.

* * *

Draco grumped to himself while he climbed down the stairs to the parlour, he wasn't an expert on muggle clothing but he was sure that they must have better things than the ones he was wearing at the moment. He hadn't put on the sweater, he didn't bear wool very well, it itched. The shirt and jeans felt odd, they were a bit oversized, that seemed strange, Potter was only an inch or so taller than him, and they had about the same body built, but he felt as if he was swimming in the T-shirt, and was painfully aware that the jeans were hanging from his hips, there wasn't any danger of them falling all the way to the floor, but he still felt highly uncomfortable. He should have asked Potter to shrink them; the bloody bastard surely did it on purpose, so that Malfoy would have to ask him a favour. Draco wanted to hide in his bed and die, but was also determined to show the boy that he could be civil with the rest of the world and that he wasn't a spoiled child anymore, after all he was now legally an adult.

He arrived to the main parlour and was about to descend to the kitchen when he caught sight of the big curtain that was concealing something behind it, possibly an old portrait. Malfoy looked at it curiously, the day before he had been told that this was Potter's home, which seemed strange, he had always assumed that the Potters would have a mansion like his own, but he hadn't expected it to be so unkempt nor had he expected it to look so familiar, even one of the house elves had recognized him. He had recognized the other elf later, it was his old house elf Dobby, figures that the creature had ended with Potter.

Still, there was something in that house that was nagging at Malfoy's mind, and he couldn't put his finger on it. He hated that feeling; it was getting on his nerves. He looked at the curtain again; maybe it was a family portrait? Maybe it was being restored or something like that? Draco was curious, he approached the curtain and opened it a little to give a peek. He regretted it immediately when a loud shrieking scream, that could very well be that of a banshee, threw him to the floor; he covered his ears and put his head between his legs, already cursing whoever had the idea of putting that portrait there.

"Who's in there? Strangers! Blood traitors! Scum! Who dares enter the House of Black? Who are you?"

The voice suddenly lowered a bit, and Malfoy risked to lift his head and looked at the face of a very ugly old witch, the portrait narrowed her eyes at him and for a moment seemed to be in shock.

"You…" she muttered.

'_Wonderful'_ Malfoy thought sarcastically. '_Even the mad portraits recognize me'_

At that moment Lupin, Potter and Tonks came running into the parlour, the portrait started screaming again, Malfoy cursed and tried to stand.

"Vermin! Scum! Get away from this House! The House of Black is pure!"

With a great effort, Lupin and Tonks finally succeeded in closing the curtain, glorious silence fell within the parlour for a few precious seconds until Weasley and Granger came running down the stairs.

"What happened?" asked Ron, Remus half smiled at him.

"Nothing, Malfoy now knows why this thing is covered with the curtain."

"Oh"

"Malfoy are you ok?" asked Harry, while Draco was still cursing the house inwardly; his headache was back full force.

"You should put a bloody warning Potter! Or even better burn that thing!"

"That's a good idea." Said Ron glumly, not happy at all with the interruption of an otherwise lovely morning.

"We've tried, Malfoy, but it's resisted everything we've thrown at it."

"What kind of people has a portrait like that in the main parlour anyway?" said Malfoy glaring at the curtain, Tonks looked at him curiously.

"You didn't recognize her?"

"Should I?" asked Draco lifting an eyebrow to his recently introduced cousin.

"Oh, well, maybe not. It's only that I had assumed that you had met her before she died, but I suppose you should have still been a baby then."

Malfoy looked at her in incomprehension, his brain still ached and refused to cooperate, so he only shrugged and all of them went to the kitchen to have breakfast.

* * *

Draco munched on his pancake automatically while his mind was in quiet speculation, the headache had been put back into submission again and he was starting to put together some things that the portrait and Tonks had said, everyone else was chattering happily about research and various spells Lupin had promised to teach them.

After a while Nymphadora looked at the thoughtful face of her cousin and asked cheerfully.

"Something on your mind Draco?"

The boy scowled and answered without looking at any one in particular.

"This is the ancestral House of Black" he concluded, understanding now why it seemed so familiar, he had known it in its better times. "It was the House of my mother's family. How come it is yours now, Potter?"

Harry turned green eyes at him, Malfoy turned to the Gryffindor too and their eyes were locked in a stare, Harry shuddered inwardly, there was something different in Malfoy's eyes, they seemed to be cold and emotionless as always, but there was something else, Harry was sure, if he could only specify what it was… Ron's annoyed retort at Malfoy distracted him.

"That's not of your business Malfoy!"

Draco didn't turn to Ron, he remained looking at Potter.

"It was only a question." He said absentmindedly, incapable of turn away from Potter's eyes.

"Well, just keep your mouth shut then!"

"Ron, don't be so rude!" said Hermione trying to avoid a fight.

"Oh, please Hermione! He has no business asking anything!"

"Sirius left it to me as heritage." said Harry, interrupting Ron's rampage and still looking only at Malfoy's eyes, the red-haired boy looked open mouthed at his friend, the blond Slytherin didn't break eye contact with Harry.

"Sirius Black? Were you related?"

"Now Malfoy…" started Lupin, sensing a rather painful subject coming around, he was interrupted by Harry.

"He was my godfather."

Malfoy lifted an eyebrow at this.

"I was under the impression that he was a murderer and had betrayed your parents."

The blond ignored the frantic looks everyone was throwing at him, Harry didn't waver, and he continued talking to Draco as if both of them were the only ones in the table.

"He was declared innocent after his death, not that it would do him any good then, but he was innocent and as he had no children he named me his only heir."

"I see. So, you've taken possession of the house recently then."

"Curious, are you?" asked Harry amused, Malfoy shrugged.

"Just understanding why the house seemed so familiar. I visited when I was a child."

Harry smiled at this, ignoring the awed looks everyone was giving them, Ron was looking at him as if he had gone mad, the rest were surprised that he and Malfoy were having a civil conversation and had talked about Sirius easily enough.

"So, you know this house."

"A little, I remember some things about it."

"Good, maybe you can tell us how to open some doors or if there are hidden rooms. Kreacher hasn't been much help."

"Maybe, if you can find some decent clothes for me."

Harry grinned at Malfoy, this was not the boy he knew at Hogwarts, at least not entirely, but he wasn't about to complain for it.

"Deal"

They both continued eating breakfast, ignoring the fact that the rest of the table was still in shock, Ron blinked and stated his confusion.

"What the hell…?"

Remus smiled and shook his head amusedly, then continued talking with Tonks about matters of the Order. Ron was scowling at Malfoy.

"And do tell me, what do we need your help for?"

"Ron, please." Harry warned, he was starting on good terms with Malfoy, and he wanted it to remain that way. However, his friend was glaring at the blond who smirked back.

"Well, have you found the library yet Weasley?"

Hermione's eyes widened at this.

"There's a library in here?"

"Oh no." muttered Ron, suddenly regretting having opened his mouth.

"Yes, there's one, with some of the most ancient books on dark magic if I remember well." said Malfoy looking satisfied with himself. Hermione was fascinated.

"Harry, we can start our research right here!"

"I think we would have to check out that library and be sure that it's not dangerous." said Lupin seriously, Malfoy shrugged noncommittally.

"I suppose some of the books must be forbidden. This house was home to some powerful dark wizards after all."

* * *

They finished breakfast hurriedly and started their quest for the library; Ron was not happy to have to trust Malfoy and tried to talk Harry out of looking for a dark library that wouldn't be of real use to them. Harry ignored him, he was going to fight against a very powerful dark wizard, it would be helpful to know what kind of spells he could expect, knowing how dark magic functioned maybe he could spot its weak points, or at the very least make strategies to defend himself from it.

They entered the drawing room and Draco stopped, seeing the mess that was spread in the room, there were papers and many artifacts out of their cabinets and lying around.

"You're not much for order, are you Potter? What do those two house elves do all day?"

"Hey! We have had difficulties with some of these things, the house elves couldn't touch the majority of them, besides they were well ordered, but someone decided to steal them and now that they had been retrieved, we have to put them back into their proper places."

Malfoy smirked and then went right in front of the tapestry that had the Blacks genealogy on it; he scowled at the burned names and turned to Tonks.

"I suppose you were one of those."

"Oh, I don't really care, Aunt Walburga could burn the tapestry all she wanted, and I'm still standing."

Malfoy half smiled at her, he always had wished to meet his cousin, then he turned his attention to the tapestry again and looked for one of the first names on it, one Phineas Black, he put his thumb over it and felt a pinch, then retired his hand and nursed the little wound absentmindedly while the wall of the tapestry moved to reveal an ample reading room, with two tables, chairs, armchairs and couches, behind the furniture there could be seen many shelves full of books. Hermione's eyes widened in awe, she stepped inside the library, already eying the books hungrily, Ron made a groan of resignation and followed her, Lupin and Nymphadora following close behind.

"What did you do?" asked Harry, noticing the tiny drop of blood that was left in the tapestry.

"The door only opens itself to members of the Black family; you have to give some blood in order for it to recognize you."

Harry scowled in annoyance.

"Is there any way to change that?"

"No, but you can have the wall removed if the magic of the house lets you. After all it's yours now."

'_Yes'_ thought Harry '_It's mine now and it's time to make a few changes around here.'_

He followed his friends and looked while Lupin made a few spells to detect possible traps or dark spells that could have been active on the books. Once the werewolf was sure that opening the books would be safe Hermione was the first to grab one of them, making the others smile.

There were plenty of books of dark arts, a few of history and many of potions, magical animals, plants, herbs, rituals both dark and light, even some novels and short stories, Remus was taking note of some of the books that he deemed important and the rest were sorting out what could be useful.

Draco was wandering through the shelves, reading some of the book's titles, when he saw Weasley taking out a heavy book and taking it over to one of the tables. He could distinguish the image of a dragon head in the cover and a shiver ran through his spine, he walked over to where the red-head was ready to open the book and he had a sudden urge to stop him, though he didn't have a clue of why.

'_No, don't let him read it! He must not read it!' _Draco was only partially aware of the words that were replaying in his head, he was so focused in approaching Ron that he didn't notice Harry getting in his way, and he stumbled into the dark haired Gryffindor.

"Hey! Careful Malfoy! Look where you're going!"

Draco was about to retort, but Weasley interrupted them.

"Harry! Come see this! Do you think Hagrid would like it?"

Harry approached his friend, Malfoy close behind him; the three boys looked at the open book. It was an illustration book of dragons, the pictures didn't move and they had vignettes that said the species of the dragon illustrated. Draco saw the book and felt like a fool, realizing that he had intended to take it from Weasley; it was only a common book after all; but why had he felt so nervous when the red-head had grabbed it? Almost as if Ron had been threatening something? He didn't like that sensation; he had been practically thrown into a panic over a book! Harry's voice brought him back to reality.

"I don't think so Ron, it has little information, and you know that Hagrid isn't one to like a book that doesn't bite you."

"True."

They lost interest in the book and Draco offered to return it to its rightful place, the two friends left him in favor of looking for more interesting material, the blond took the book and walked towards a shelf to left it. He didn't know what to think, he looked at the cover before putting the book on the shelf, he had never seen it before, there was no reason to feel so apprehensive over a simple book. Draco opened it to reassure himself, the first of the illustrations showed a dragon that he had never heard about, a Rainbow Dragon; it had a stylized figure, long, translucent wings, and its scales were of many bright colors, it gave the impression to be almost ethereal.

Draco scowled at the picture, he had seen something similar before, he just couldn't remember where, he wished that the book had some description about the creatures. He turned the page and almost yelped in surprise, there were no more illustrations, there was text. Draco turned more pages, looking for the rest of the dragons, there was nothing, no more plates, only text, diagrams and hand-made drawings, many of them didn't even resemble dragons. But Weasley had looked through almost the entire book and there had been only dragons, he was sure of it!

Malfoy breathed deeply and tried to think, he stared at one of the pages and realized that he couldn't understand what was written, upon closer examination he could see that the words were from an unknown language, he scowled while he turned more pages, some of the symbols he found were ancient arcana, a dragon appeared once in a while and some of the drawings represented people.

Malfoy continued turning the pages, almost at the end of the book he started to recognize some symbols, there were emblems of ancient wizarding families, he bit his lip and suddenly came to a halt, there, in one of the drawings, there was a wizard ridding a huge dragon, the crest of the House of Black above him, Malfoy stared at it wishing he could understand the words, Granger's voice startled him.

"Malfoy. What are you doing?"

He turned to see her suspicious scowl at his side.

"Nothing Granger. Just looking at a book."

"Mmm. May I see it?"

Before Draco could do anything she had taken the book from him and stared at the pages, her scowl transformed into a look of surprise.

"I didn't know you were so fascinated by pictures Malfoy."

Draco narrowed his eyes at her and looked at the book, it had returned to be a simple illustrations book, Malfoy took it back from the girl.

"It's nothing of your concern Granger."

The girl eyed him suspiciously while he retrieved the book on the shelf.

"You know Malfoy? I don't think it's a good idea to have you around, I don't believe that you have changed or that you are willing to help us, but Harry seems to think that you deserve a chance to redeem yourself, so I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, for Harry's sake."

Draco barely turned to see her, he was doing a great effort to control his temper and he answered her slowly.

"Redeem myself. And whatever do I need redemption for Granger?"

She opened her mouth to answer, when Harry's voice reached them.

"Hey guys! Come look at this!"

Hermione turned away and left to find her friend, Malfoy watched her go and then, after giving another quick look at the book he went after her.

Harry had found an archive with copies of the Daily Prophet and letters from various members of the Black family, they decided to go through the newspapers that documented the first war, hoping to understand the methods of the Death Eaters, Harry was anxious to start, so each of the teenagers grabbed some newspapers and started reading, Draco joined them and tried to take the Dragon's book out of his mind. Remus and Tonks left them at it and went to do other things; Harry had asked them not to tell the other members of the Order anything about the library, he didn't want it to become a public source of information, Lupin had respected his decision and didn't comment.

They read to one another some of the articles in the newspapers and became increasingly nervous, by super time Malfoy was sure he would have nightmares and it wasn't even night yet, Granger seemed to think likewise because she suggested a halt for the day, Harry frowned but he too needed a break and they went to eat, leaving the wall open.

* * *

After lunch they wandered through the house, it turned out that some of the sealed doors would now open up at Harry's request; Malfoy explained that the magic of the house was acknowledging him as the master, and if he had taken over the house sooner he would have complete knowledge of its secrets by now. Harry was not happy about this, but recognized that he was the one that hadn't wanted anything to do with the house.

Other doors needed an incantation to be opened, which were provided grudgingly by Kreacher, when Harry asked the elf why he hadn't said it before; the creature defended itself saying that master had not ordered him to tell anything related to the house.

Harry was annoyed but he was forced to recognize that he hadn't required the elf's help at all, truth be told, he despised that particular elf, the thing had had a big part in Sirius' demise and Harry didn't want the creature to be around him more than it had to, he would have preferred to be rid of it but he couldn't allow for the treacherous elf to make its way to Bellatrix Lestrange and told her things that could be important, it was safer to have Kreacher around under vigilance. It would be even better to have it dead but Harry knew that he would never bring himself to be that cold blooded, even towards a creature he truly despised, as far as he was concerned Voldemort's kill would be the only one he was willing to perform, and perhaps Bellatrix's and Snape's.

There were two secret doors that Draco knew about, one leading to a potions lab, and the other was in the wall surrounding the garden, it was like a portal that led into a forest, Hermione immediately took note of it as an escape route and the group decided that they would explore the forest later.

Harry now asked the old house elf if there were any other hidden doors, the creature wasn't happy to have to answer, it even looked at Malfoy, who ignored it, then Kreacher told them there was another door behind a shelf in the kitchen, but he didn't know how to open it They went to investigate and were surprised to see that there were no indication of any kind of door behind the shelf, they supposed that a password was needed to open that particular door and they had no idea of how they could find that password, so they left that door alone, figuring that they would be lucky if they ever get to know what was behind it.

Remus and Tonks left the House after dinner, advising everyone to behave, Hermione and Ron made sure that Malfoy and Harry were each in their respective rooms before disappearing together into another. Draco didn't mind them so much, he was starting to think that their fuzziness over Harry was funny and a bit annoying; no one seemed to realize that Potter wanted them to stop worrying about him.

All in all they had managed to spend the day in civil companionship, Weasley and Malfoy mostly ignoring each other. Granger had been watching the blonde's every step, but had relaxed a little when they had found the secret doors. Potter had been friendlier, Draco had thought it strange that the Gryffindor who had been his nemesis since first year at Hogwarts now wanted to help him; more so, Potter was doing his best to get him to open a little and talk.

Draco was somewhat confused, he hadn't expected that Potter would be so willing to accept peace between them, the blond found himself wanting to show the Gryffindor the part of him that people barely saw, but he was still unsure if the golden trio will accept him, after all it had been six years of rivalry and nastiness, six years of being the Malfoy heir around them, it was expected that they won't forgive him easily.

Malfoy lay on the bed thinking about it, he knew that his past wouldn't disappear and that he had no chances to be accepted in Potter's little group of friends, but maybe they'll let him to hang around, just close enough to watch, he had longed for years to have the chance to make things different and the last one had been such a nightmare that the only thing he wanted now was to not feel so lonely. Being a Malfoy had meant to keep the world apart, to not have anyone to turn to, and Draco had been painfully shown that in the long run it didn't pay of.

Draco turned around, facing the door, he was still fully clothed, the jeans and T-shirt now fitted him well enough thanks to Tonks. He wasn't sleepy yet; there were so many things in his head: Potter, Potter's friends, this house, the book. Malfoy scowled as his mind wandered back to the book and wondered about the language. It was obvious that it had some especial kind of magic to change the way it did, but why was he the only one who could see the text? Maybe the book recognized him as a Black like the family tree had done, he could show it to Nymphadora and see what happened.

'_No, that's not a good idea. Don't show it to anyone.'_

Malfoy frowned at his own thoughts, not really sure of why he was thinking them in the first place, it was as if he felt that the book was something he should keep secret, even if he didn't have a clue of what it was about.

Draco grew restless and sat up in the bed, he didn't like not to be sure about something, maybe if he looked for the symbols that he remembered having seen in the book he could get a better idea of what it was about. More so, he really wanted to find some information about that dragon on the first page, the only one that apparently was part of the real book. He made his mind and taking his school cloak he got out of the bedroom and headed towards the drawing room and the library.

It was dark, he wished he had his wand to light it up, but he found his way easily enough, as soon as he entered the drawing room he saw that there was light in the library, a lamp was turned on illuminating a figure on one of the couches, Malfoy approached silently and was surprised to see Potter there, he had been half expecting to see Granger reading some boring book. The dark-haired Gryffindor was enthralled in the newspapers and didn't notice Malfoy's presence.

Draco looked at the boy for some moments, noticing the worried frown on his face. He had had a crush on Harry Potter since fourth year. During the tournament it had been easy to realize that Potter had grown up and made some well toned muscle. Draco had been awed by the boy's agility and his wits to conquer each one of the tasks, he had been shocked when the tournament finished and Potter had come back with dreadful news and carrying a dead body. Malfoy admired the strength of the boy; it had been so hard to say those harsh words on the train back instead of what he had really wanted to say.

He had tried to hate Potter, he had put his best effort onto it to please his father, it had never been good enough, Potter seemed to have a special kind of charm and the more Draco wanted to hate the boy, the more he had felt attracted to him. He sighed in frustration, it was no use to think about it now, Potter was out of his reach and there was nothing he could do to rectify that, it was better to forget it. He coughed slightly to make his presence known and green eyes stared surprised at him.

"Malfoy, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question Potter."

"I asked first."

Draco shrugged and walked towards the couch beside Potter's.

"I couldn't sleep, thanks to all those creepy stories." He said signalling the newspapers with a movement of his head. "I figured that you wouldn't mind too much if I looked for something better to read."

Harry looked at the blond for a second and then shrugged.

"You can read all that you want, but don't take anything out from here."

"Sure."

Malfoy went to find something about magical beasts and returned to the couch, the boys read for sometime in a companionable silence.

* * *

The streets of Knocturn alley were darker than usual; you couldn't distinguish one building from the next, there was no one in sight except a lonely figure of a man that stumbled along the deserted sidewalks. He walked with some trepidation and came to a halt in front of a low door of what seemed a building without windows, one hand touched the door and it opened immediately, letting the stranger in and then slammed shut.

He found himself in a long corridor and walked towards the door that could be seen at the end of it, a dull clunk emphasizing each step, he reached the door and opened it easily, entering a dark room, full of shelves and cabinets with a variety of artefacts and bottles of all sizes, some of them contained strange liquids or unrecognizable substances, there was some armchairs at the far end, in front of a low fire in the fireplace that gave some light to the room. The man walked over there and sat in one of the armchairs, after making himself comfortable on it he turned to look at the other one, currently occupied by the slender frame of a witch who seemed to be in her late forties, her long fingers were holding an empty cup of tea that she was analyzing, her dark eyes lifted to look at the newcomer.

"Alastor. Not yet?"

"Patience Salamanca, he has just arrived, he needs some time to adjust."

"Patience. I have plenty of patience, but the others are growing restless, they ask if you are sure that the boy would fulfil his task."

"He would, he has no option."

"There is no way to get things to go faster?"

"Unfortunately not, as it is we are lucky that it had already started."

The woman nodded and left the cup on a nearby coffee table and reclined in her seat.

"We had been waiting for years Alastor, now we will retrieve what was rightfully ours, we will have our revenge."

"Of course we will. We only have to make sure that the house would be left mostly alone the majority of the time. That would give the boy the space he needs to act."

The witch gave him a toothy grin and waved her hand dismissively.

"Don't worry about it; I'm sure that your precious Order would find plenty to do in other places."

Moody smirked back at her and stood to leave.


	5. Dreams of Dragons

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Author's note:** I know it has been a long, long while, but I have realized that it is almost impossible for me to write two stories at the same time and still take care of job and real life, so I wanted to end Consequences before continuing with this, because if I didn't then I wouldn't finish anything. I have to contact my beta for this story again but in the meanwhile I did a minor edition to the previous chapters.

* * *

**Chapter 04.** **Dreams of Dragons.**

_Faster, must go faster, must escape… there was a purple light engulfing him, pulling him into a black void…_

Draco opened his eyes and tried to regain his breath. The same dream again, he had spent a week in Potter's home and every night he had dreamed the same, not only that, but also he usually waked up at midnight in the kitchen, in front of the shelf that supposedly concealed a secret door. The dream had become more vivid and Draco always awakened from it feeling like he was a huge creature with wings. He was going mental, there was no doubt about it, this house was somehow doing something to him, and he had to find out what it was before he truly lost it.

He turned around in the bed, it was too early and he was still exhausted. Draco closed his eyes and fell asleep again almost immediately.

* * *

Training was hard. Training with Alastor Moody was hell. The ex-auror was teaching them to fight hand on hand and was really strict in that they should be perfect at it. Lupin was being hard on them too, he was teaching them some very complicated spells and had promised to teach them wandless magic too, but compared to Moody the werewolf was a ride to the park. Moody had made it clear since first day that he was not going to tolerate laziness and was true to his word, making the teenagers work very hard.

To everyone's surprise, Alastor had ordered Draco to be an active participant in his training sessions. Hermione and Ron had complained loudly about it, saying that they should be careful with Malfoy and that they didn't need him to have any means of escape, but Harry considered that if Moody, who was the most paranoid auror that had ever walked the Ministry, didn't mind that Malfoy was training with them, then it should be ok. Hermione and Ron were not happy with his lack of support to them, but Harry put an end to their complains pointing out that it was unlikely that Malfoy could be better than them in a fight, and even if he tried to do something stupid they still had their wands and he didn't.

Finally his two friends had no choice but to grudgingly accept Malfoy's presence at the training, but Ginny had been another matter entirely. The red-headed girl didn't like one bit to have the blond Slytherin near Harry, she considered him a danger and an unworthy prat, and was utterly frustrated because Harry didn't seem to think like her.

Harry just ignored the stubborn girl, deciding that he was not going to spend more energy trying to change anyone's mind, and was actually happy to have Malfoy training with them, as that gave him the chance to fight someone who was more unlikely to hold himself back to cause less damage.

The first day of training with Alastor had been somewhat a problem. The wizard had insisted in that Hermione should be training along with the boys and Ginny had asked if she could join in the action. At first the boys had felt awkward, especially Harry. The brunette had tried to spare with Hermione and had been very cautious on his movements, until she had given him a good kick to the stomach, then he had reacted and had immobilized and taken her to the floor, however he still had been watching himself so as to not hurt her. Moody hadn't liked it and had insisted on the necessity of them fighting with all they had; pointing out that if it had been Bellatrix Harry wouldn't have been very considerate.

Soon they had realized that Malfoy was crap in that kind of fight, and Ginny was even worse. Alastor had put both of them to spare, just to see how they moved and Draco had won, the Weasley girl hadn't liked that and had stood furiously to get to her wand and had hexed Malfoy. Moody had been furious, the rules were very clear and he would not have any kind of magic on his training, so he decided that Ginny wouldn't be allowed into it. The red-head had cried and begged forgiveness but Moody had not changed his mind and Harry had been pretty annoyed with her for the rest of the week, he still was feeling protective over Malfoy, though he couldn't say exactly why he was doing so.

The truth was that Harry had grown a little bit fond of Draco, they already had been living together for a week and not only they hadn't killed each other, they also had managed to actually get to know each other better. Malfoy had dropped his usual attitude and had started to act more open towards Harry. The occasional insults between the blond and the trio lacked entirely the venom they used to have, and the majority of the time Draco would just stay around them in silence. He was only willing to talk about his personal life with Harry and so far they had only covered the last year at school and the fact that Malfoy still feared for his mother, not remembering if something had happened to her.

It had been a surprise to see how the cold hearted Slytherin prince really was, and Harry decided that he wanted to help him and maybe try to be friends with him. Ron and Hermione were still guarded around the blond, but they were getting used to have him around; however his quiet demeanor bothered them a little, it just didn't fit with their mental image of Malfoy and they were actually relieved to still have a few spats with him once in a while.

Some days before Harry's birthday Remus and Tonks had to go away, the Order had an emergency concerning giants and they needed all the help they could have, so the youngsters were left alone in the house with only Moody going on a daily basis to their training, the rest of the time they spent practicing their spells, researching and putting the house into some semblance of order, helped by the two house-elves, Ginny was left with them and she was helping too, trying at the same time to get Harry to be closer to her again, so far her efforts had been in vain.

They were training in one of the unused rooms of the second floor that Harry had made the house-elves fix especially for Moody's sessions. It resembled closely a gymnastics room with a lot of mats on the wooden floor and ample space to move. It was perfect for their hard sessions, Alastor was confident in that they would built muscle and improve their tactics in no time and they were left utterly exhausted at the end of each session, but they continued to put all their effort in learning new maneuvers that could help them to have an upper hand on their enemies.

After one especially hard session, once Moody had retired, Ron and Hermione had run to the kitchen to have a glass of water, telling Harry that they were going to take a nap after that seeing that both of them barely stood on their feet. Draco thought that the nap was a good idea and was about to follow them out of the room when Harry suddenly stopped him.

"Come on Malfoy, one last spar with that movement that Moody shown us, yes?"

Draco turned to look at the other boy open mouthed.

"Are you crazy Potter? I'm dead! I want to reach the nearest couch and sleep until next week! That man wants to kill us; I can't believe you still want to practice!"

"Oh, come on Malfoy! Just one more time, I want to be sure that I have it right."

Draco groaned and walked reluctantly to where the Gryffindor was standing, questioning his mental health for abiding with Potter's wishes.

He didn't know what was happening to him, even if he really wanted to make amends and show Potter that the real Draco Malfoy was far from the prat he had known at school, he accepted that his behaviour had been a lot more subdued than it should. It was the house, it just had to be, the house wanted him to do something but he was aware that it was a crazy idea. He didn't know if he would be able to tolerate this situation any longer, he wanted to scream, to tell someone what was happening but he just couldn't and he was starting to feel really afraid.

He stopped in front of Potter and assumed the fighting stance; soon they both were throwing and dodging blows. It finished quite quickly, Draco was really tired and his speed suffered from it, added to the fact that Potter was much better than him on muggle fighting, the blond soon found himself on the floor with the dark-haired boy over him, pinning his wrists above his head and straddling his thighs.

Harry breathed deeply, happy to have mastered the movement; he looked at the exhausted blond under him and gulped. The word 'pretty' appeared instantly in his mind and he ushered it away. Malfoy was gasping for breath and Harry couldn't help but notice the movement of his well defined neck and the way his torso was moving up and down, he wondered how Draco would look like in that position shirtless, acting on instinct he leaned over the boy's face, breathing over his parted lips, wondering what they would taste like… Harry blinked and stared horrified into Malfoy's grey eyes. That could not be, he was not, Not, NOT thinking of Malfoy in that way! He was not interested in Malfoy, he wasn't even gay for crying out loud! He felt guilt creep to his gut while he registered fear in the blonde's eyes.

Draco didn't like the position he was in, he felt vulnerable and exposed, Potter was looking at him as if he was thinking the best way to start eating him, Draco felt fear wash over him as he stared at the green eyes which were too close to him for comfort. He had to do something, any time now Potter would make a move he'll regret later and Draco didn't want it to be that way, but he lacked the energy to throw Harry off him; he hated to be so helpless. Suddenly the eyes above him blinked and a guilty and horrified expression filled them. Malfoy feared for an instant that Potter was disgusted to be in that position with him, but then realized that it was his chance to get out of the situation and he attempted to compose himself.

"Ah, you can let go of me now Potter, you have proven what a mighty fighter you are."

He tried his best to sound calm and felt relieved to see that Potter gulped and relaxed.

"Mm, yes, of course. Sorry."

He started to pull himself up and away from Draco when the door opened and Ginny entered the room, pausing a few steps inside and eying them suspiciously. Draco thanked the gods that Harry's face had not been inches away from his when the red-head appeared; she only got to see Harry still straddling Malfoy's thighs.

"Harry, what are you doing? Is everything all right?"

"What? Of course Ginny! We were only practicing, you know, a move that Moody taught us, and well… Malfoy was helping me, but he's not really good at it you know."

Draco moved and freed himself from Potter's legs, scrambling hurriedly to his feet, he needed to get out of there, the feeling he was getting in his groin was rather alarming.

"Yeah well, I'm going to have a nap. I'm really tired. See you at lunch."

The blond escaped hurriedly from the room followed by the intense glare of Ginny, Harry pulled himself upright and focused in the girl.

"Well Ginny, did you want something?"

The Weasley girl turned to him with dangerous eyes. Harry's eyebrows rose, he couldn't fathom the cause of Ginny's apparent foul mood.

"I really hope that you are not getting comfortable with him Harry, he's just a nuisance over here, I hope that McGonagall or Moody quickly find another place to drop him or that they'd decide to give him over to the Ministry, I don't like to have him around."

Harry felt hurt all of a sudden, Ginny had no right to say that, this was his house and he wanted to have Malfoy safe, he had offered the blond his help and, truth be told, Malfoy had not been ungrateful, he even was making an effort to stay on good terms with Hermione and Ron!

"Look Ginny, even if they do I'm not going to allow it. Draco could be in great danger if he leaves this place! I offered him help and I'm not going to take his security away from him!"

Ginny seemed shocked and asked quietly.

"Draco? Since when he is Draco?"

Harry blinked, not sure of what to say, they were not on first names basis but somehow he just didn't feel like referring to the blond as Malfoy when he was defending him from Ginny.

"That's beside the point Ginny. He's not leaving here until we are sure that the Death Eaters would not be after him."

"That's ridiculous Harry! What if he's just waiting the right moment to betray you? He's Malfoy for Merlin's sake! He's a prat! And his father is a fucking Death Eater!"

"He's not his father Ginny, and he may have been a total prat when we were at Hogwarts but he has changed!"

"Harry how you could believe that? He's using you! He knows that he has no other choice but to act nicely so you let him stay! And you had fallen for it Harry!"

"It's not like that Ginny! Look I can't explain it but I know that he's changed and he's trying to adapt to his situation, he hadn't been the troublesome git we had been expecting! I think that he had been through a lot and he only needs to feel that he still has a chance to be a different person, and I'm willing to give him that chance!"

Ginny pressed her lips and looked livid, she wanted Harry to hear her, he should be paying attention only to her while they had the chance, not worrying over a worthless Death Eater spawn!

"I don't believe it Harry. I can't believe it! Just look what he's doing! He's making you get away from me!"

Harry looked shocked before he shook his head.

"Ginny please, this is not his doing; I'm not pushing you apart. I have a lot to do and I have to be prepared for the fight with Voldemort. I won't allow myself to be closer to anyone until I'm finished with him and you know it. I…"

Suddenly he didn't know what else to say, he knew that Draco wasn't the reason of why he had procured to be apart from Ginny, but he wasn't ready to tell her that he didn't feel the love he once thought he felt towards her, he turned away from her and walked towards the door.

"Look Ginny I'm really tired. Let's not talk about this anymore."

"But Harry…!"

"Please Ginny. I don't want to talk. Malfoy would stay here, maybe you can take the time to know him better and you'll see that he really has changed. I'm going to take a nap."

He walked down the corridor to his bedroom; Ginny's eyes followed him intently.

* * *

_Little three year old Draco ran happily through the garden in persecution of some butterflies, his mother was inside the house talking with her aunt and had left the house-elf Kreacher to watch over the boy. The garden was a bit dark, even when it was mid-afternoon, but the child paid little mind to that, he looked to the vine covered wall that separated the garden from the outer world and ran to it, he had spotted some humming birds flying between the flowers and wanted to catch them._

_He was entertained enough that he almost missed the subtle movement between some bushes at the far corner of the garden, intrigued he walked over to investigate, followed by a dutiful Kreacher. The boy reached his goal and peered between the bushes, suddenly he found himself in front of a big scaly nose. He yelped in surprise and retreated a step, looking in awe as an enormous head got out of the bushes, followed by a long neck and a huge body. Draco was impressed; the creature was multicolored and had the most beautiful wings he had ever seen. The boy looked over at Kreacher, the house-elf was looking at the huge beast wide eyed, Draco giggled at the elf's expression, it seemed like its entire face consisted only of eyes._

"_Ke'che, wha's this?"_

"_Master Draco… a magic dragon Master… a young one…"_

"_Dagon!" The boy yelled happily and threw himself to the big creature's neck, hugging it; Kreacher did a strangled horrified sound._

"_Master!__Careful!"_

_But to the house-elf's surprise the dragon nuzzled tenderly the blond boy's head, making him giggle, and comprehension dawned upon the elf's face as it looked the interchange._

"_Geen Dagon!"_

_The multicolored scales changed to multiple shades of green and the boy giggled in delight, he started to run towards the garden's opposite end._

"'_ome Dagon! 'un!"_

_The creature gave chase as the boy laughed in happiness…_

Malfoy woke up with a start and shielded his eyes against the sunlight. He had fallen asleep on a garden chair while he was trying to sort out whatever had happened with Potter in the training room. He looked around the unkempt garden and realized that the garden furniture were the only things that seemed to be new and recently cleaned, he supposed that someone had ordered the house-elves to start getting the garden decent.

He stood up and started to walk, the ground was covered by overgrown grass and weed, there was ivy everywhere and the bushes were getting in his path, the garden seemed most like a wild forest to him, a far cry from the thing he just remembered. He walked until he reached the far corner where he had seen the dragon in his childhood. The creature had looked exactly like the one on that mysterious book in the Black library, a Rainbow Dragon. He remembered the house-elf calling it a magic dragon but that was somewhat obvious, all dragons were magical creatures after all.

He looked to the point where the dragon had stood in his dream, it was a round patch of grass surrounded by bushes, no weed or ivy had grown there, it seemed that someone had been taking great care of that single corner apart from the rest of the garden. Draco thought back to his dream, in it the dragon had seemed the most enormous thing he had ever seen, but then he had been only three at the time, in reality it must have been a small dragon just to fit in the garden.

Malfoy rubbed at his temples, wondering whether his dream had been a real memory or not, he remembered having been at Black manor to visit many times before Walburga Black had passed away, but it was the first time that he actually remembered with crystal clarity anything he had done while in the old house, assuming that it indeed had really happened but to his utter surprise Draco just knew that it had.

The blond boy looked again at the ground below him and something urged him to take a look '_under_' it. He spotted a small gardener shovel between the bushes and retrieved it; he got on his hands and knees and started shovelling the earth away, not pausing to think for one second about what he was doing or why.

Harry found him later that day, the black-haired boy had wondered why the blond hadn't appeared for lunch and had been informed by a rather unwilling Kreacher that "_Master Malfoy"_ was in the garden. The Gryffindor had first thought that Malfoy would likely be trying to locate the secret door that he had mentioned some days before, but he couldn't find the blond when he arrived to the garden.

Upon searching more thoroughly he finally had spotted movement and heard faint gasps from a far corner at the very limits of the garden and was truly surprised to find the Slytherin on his fours in the middle of a large space of removed soil, covered in dirt and seemingly wanting to dig as far as he could with a small gardener shovel. Harry looked at the boy with a quirked eyebrow and then coughed slightly to get his attention.

Malfoy jumped about two feet in the air when he heard the faint sound behind him, then turned around with the shovel in front of him, handling it as if it was a wand. Harry's eyes widened in surprise and then proceeded to laugh at Draco's reaction, recognition took over Malfoy's features and he scowled at the shovel realizing that it was no wand.

"Bloody thing! Where the Hell is my wand when I need it most?"

"Malfoy… what the hell are you doing?"

Draco looked around him flabbergasted, he really didn't know what had gotten into him, but he sure as hell didn't want Potter to find out about his temporary insanity or the very weird dreams he had been having.

"Well… I was bored Potter… and this garden do need a bit of a care!"

Harry looked at him not knowing if he should be shocked of amused.

"I never thought I'll see the day when you'd lower yourself to do a hard manual work just as gardening. I thought you regard it as house-elf's work."

"Well yes, as a matter of fact it is house-elf's work, there's no way a decent wizard would lower himself to put this mess together! I was only bored I told you!"

"Alright, alright. Tough I must say that it looks like you were doing a greater mess than trying to fix it." Said Harry, looking amusedly at the big patch of soil and the little mounts of earth surrounding it. Draco stood up and huffed indignantly.

"As if this place could be any messier."

Harry sniggered and followed the blond to the house, wondering if Malfoy's boredom would make him try to dig a tunnel into muggle London.

* * *

_Warm. It was warm and comfortable… suddenly something nagged at his side and a loud urgent growl was heard, he stood on his four shaky legs and was pushed outside the nest, for a second the light blinded him and then he was pushed from the cliff, his wings reacting just in time to avoid collapsing into the forest below, then there was noise, growls and screams and blasting, many figures were chasing them, must get away, must go faster… faster… run… "Run Draco!"… The forest was dark and the branches scratched his face and arms while he ran blindly, he had to find it… he had to return home…_

Draco opened his eyes and breathed deeply, he remained very still while his eyes grew used to the dark and tried to relax. Soon his brain started to work again and he realized that he wasn't laying in bed, in fact he wasn't even in the bedroom, he was standing in front of a bare wall, a shelf was to his left evidently out of its rightful place and Draco realized he was facing the mysterious secret door.

He gulped and started to shake uncontrollably, giving a few steps backwards and finally extending his arms, looking for something to lean into. He grabbed a chair and let himself fall on it, burying his face in his hands. It had happened again, only this time he had somehow moved the shelf out of the way, Draco wondered idly if he was loosing his mind or if someone was controlling him.

He needed help, he had to tell someone about what was happening, but every time he tried to bring the subject out with Potter something made him shut up, deep inside his mind was the thought that it really was a very bad idea to let others know about his dreams and sleep walking. Draco wanted nothing more than been rid of those strange dreams, he wished he knew what was happening to him or why.

Malfoy remained sometime collecting himself and then stoop up and hastily returned to the bedroom, not caring that the shelf was still out of place.

When he was gone two small shadows emerged from their hiding spot and one of them promptly levitated the shelf to put it right, the other was fidgeting nervously with its hands.

"Should tell Master Harry Potter… Harry Potter should know…"

"No!" The elder elf snapped angrily at his nervous companion. "Us are not saying a thing! Not yet!"

"But Master Malfoy is remembering! Harry Potter should know!"

"Traitor Dobby is?" Kreacher said dangerously, Dobby looked indignant.

"Dobby is not traitor! Dobby took care of young Master many years! Been there when big dragon came to Mistress Narcissa! Dobby knows what's to be donne! Had kept secret carefully! Concealed Master Draco's memories of Dobby helping! But Harry Potter…"

"Is not chosen yet! Powerful Master Potter is, but he must not know! The dragon will choose soon. Then if Master Potter is the right one, he'll learn."

"Soon…"

The house-elves made sure that the kitchen was in order and then retired to their newly improved quarters, a tense peace between them.

* * *

Harry was about to snap at Hermione, he only wanted a peaceful breakfast, but the bushy haired girl was giving him and Ron a speech about elves' rights, all because he had asked Kreacher why the only thing in the garden that had been taken care of was the furniture, and if it could be made more presentable. The house-elf had refused to work in the rest of the garden, saying that it must be kept as it was and explained that it had always been taken care of under the watchful eyes of the deceased mistress of the house, and that she had put several protective charms to be sure that only her would have a say in how the garden was arranged, besides, Kreacher was too old for such a hard work as gardening.

That last bit Harry was sure to be an excuse, but unfortunately for him those were the only words that Hermione had heard when she had entered the kitchen. Thus the harsh words she was presently throwing at Harry, saying that she had expected better of him than to be an enslaver. Ron was getting his part of the berating too, and the two house-elves were looking wide eyed at the girl, but Kreacher seemed far more horrified than Dobby at Hermione's words of elf freedom.

Harry had already explained to his friend the situation, but she insisted in that he should be more considerate towards the old elf, how he could possibly think that fixing that mess of a garden was a suitable task for the creature? Harry and Ron had already resigned themselves to hear her angry words for the entire morning when Draco entered the kitchen and greeted them all absentmindedly before taking a seat in front of Harry at the kitchen table, waiting for his breakfast to be served.

The teenagers now knew some of Malfoy's little morning rituals, and so they were certain that the blond was still half-asleep when he carelessly ordered his usual breakfast, Kreacher snapped his fingers and Draco's pancakes, eggs, bacon and juice were instantly in front of the boy. Hermione pressed her lips in a thin line and Harry and Ron threw sympathetic looks at the blond, who noticed their strange behaviour and lifted an eyebrow at them, he was totally unprepared for Hermione's attack.

"So Malfoy; too lazy to get your breakfast by yourself?"

"What?" Draco turned to look at the girl, he wasn't expecting either her annoyed tone or the murderous look that she was giving him.

"Do you ever think about the injustice of enslaving another living being to do your minor deeds? Or you are just too royal to care?"

Draco turned to look at the two boys, wanting to know what he had done wrong.

"What's she talking about?"

Ron looked embarrassed and let Harry do the explaining.

"Well, you see, Hermione thinks that the way in which the house-elves are treated is too akin to slavery."

"It is slavery Harry! And it is wrong!"

Malfoy have to do a great effort not to roll his eyes, really, muggleborns could come up with such crazy ideas!

"You're a pureblood wizard Weasley. Why don't you explain her?"

"Explain?" shrieked Hermione, slamming her fist on the table. "What's to explain Malfoy? That it is the way they are? That's bullshit! There's no excuse valid enough to enslave another rational being!"

Ron looked at Draco with an expression that said '_That's why'_ and the blond groaned. It was too early to have an argument with the Granger girl; she was too stubborn for her own good. Hermione continued her rant while Draco looked longingly at his pancakes.

"There should be a law that protects the house elves' work. They should have rights and certain privileges, be allowed to dress decently and get paid!"

Draco looked very surprised to the girl and Harry was trying very hard not to laugh at the terrified expression that Kreacher had managed to put on. The blond boy couldn't believe his ears.

"Pay them? Money?"

"Of course money you twit!"

"And what would they use it for?"

"For whatever they want it for! To improve their living conditions for example! Or what? Do you seriously think that what they have is enough?"

Draco blinked at her, turned his head to look at Kreacher and Dobby, then did a mental comparison of what he had seen of the rooms destined to the elves with the ones he had once seen in Malfoy manor, and finally compared Harry with Lucius and turned again to face the girl.

"Well, I don't know about Kreacher, but I'm sure that Dobby is far better serving here than in Malfoy manor, but only because my father was a bastard and almost impossible to please."

To Harry's surprise Dobby nodded fervently at Malfoy's words, however Hermione didn't see the elf and she smiled in triumph to the blond.

"That is Malfoy because he's a free elf and Harry pays him."

Draco looked incredulously at Harry.

"You actually do that?"

"Err… well, I…" Harry blushed in embarrassment; he didn't know what to say. The truth was that he had absolutely forgotten about paying Dobby.

"Of course he does! And it's nothing to be ashamed of Harry!"

"Um, Hermione, I…"

Draco ignored Harry's dilemma and turned again to look at Dobby, the elf was trying very hard to hide behind a chair.

"He doesn't look like a free elf to me." Said Draco. Harry looked over the blonde's shoulder at the house-elf while Hermione turned and moved away the chair behind which the creature was hiding. Draco could swear that the elf was blushing.

"How could you say that Malfoy? Can't you see the way he's dressed? He's practically a clothes' collector! He has…! A… Many…"

"Yes Granger, I can see that he has almost all the tea cozies, towels, napkins and pillowcases that he could find on. But I can't see how that makes him a free house-elf!"

Draco knew that Dobby was a crazy elf; he had always done extravagant things like that, until Lucius had tired of it and had punished the creature. Malfoy didn't understand why everybody seemed so surprised. Hermione approached Dobby and inspected him, almost as if to make sure of what he was wearing.

"Dobby, where are your clothes? What happened?" Neither of the trio had really noticed Dobby's new attire until then, the elf started playing with his fingers and squeaked.

"Dobby gave them to Master Harry Potter. Master Harry Potter said that Dobby could stay and help in the house Miss."

Hermione turned to pierce Harry with a glare.

"Harry! How could you do that? That was insensible of you!"

"Hey! I told him that he could stay; I didn't say that he would be bounded to a family again!"

"You accepted anything from him?" asked Malfoy, Harry turned to look at him.

"Well, a couple of days ago he offered me a scarf, but I thought it was a gift or something."

"Good. You took it, now he is your house-elf. He wasn't offering only the scarf; it was a symbol of servitude."

"Oh" Harry was a bit flabbergasted about the situation; Ron was trying hard not to laugh.

"It is not funny Ron! It's a horrible action! And Harry is going to correct it now! Harry?"

"Mmm. Oh, yes."

Harry started to take of his sock when Dobby's loud wailing interrupted him.

"Dobby's a bad, bad elf! Master Harry doesn't want Dobby as house-elf!"

"No, no Dobby, it's not that! You're a great house-elf Dobby, but I thought that you liked to be free."

"Dobby doesn't want to be free anymore. Dobby is wanting to help Master Harry Potter with house!"

Harry looked confused at the elf, Hermione tried to reason with it.

"Dobby, you can continue doing your work as a free elf, like in Hogwarts."

"Dobby could not be as in castle. Dobby is needing a house. Dobby doesn't want freedom anymore."

"But why? You were very happy Dobby."

The elf turned to look at Harry and then to Draco before answering a bit ashamed.

"Dobby was waiting for Master Harry Potter to have a house, so Dobby could go with Master Harry Potter and serve him."

"What?"

Hermione was shocked into silence by that, Ron took her by the arms and guided her to a chair, Draco snickered at her and Kreacher mussed something under his breath about idiot strangers. Harry glared at the older elf and then looked over to Dobby.

"Well, I suppose you can stay Dobby. If that's really what you want."

The elf's ears straightened and he started to bounce in happiness.

"Yes Master Harry sir! Dobby would be a good house-elf Master Harry Potter sir!"

Harry smiled and returned to his breakfast, it took a while for Hermione to collect herself and start complaining again about the injustice of slavery. Ron wished he had gone with Ginny to The Burrow for some clean clothes. By the end of breakfast Malfoy was very tired of hearing the bushy haired girl.

"Please Granger, that's the way they are, you can't change it."

"It's not the way they are Malfoy! It's what the wizards had made them! No one even cares to know how they were like before wizards enslaved them to serve in their houses!"

"Granger, no one enslaved them. They came with the houses, before that there wasn't house-elves."

"How can you possibly know that?"

"Well, it's true Hermione." Said Ron timidly, his girlfriend turned sharply to him

"What?"

"It's true, and it's common knowledge, why do you think they're called house-elves? They need a house to live."

"You see Granger; they just appeared one day inside some of the wizarding buildings. I admit that many wizards like to count an elf among their properties, but the reality is that the wizard doesn't 'own' the elf, the house does. The clothes thing is only a way for the family to acknowledge them."

"How's that?" asked Harry interested. Draco turned to look at him.

"Well, why do you think that the ancient families are the most likely to have a house-elf?"

"I thought that they bought it."

"That's not correct." Ron said. "I sometime asked to my father why didn't we have enough money to have a house-elf, and he told me that it wasn't because of the money, it was the house the one that wasn't powerful enough to have one, it's like the elf's magic feeds from the house's energy."

"That's why they're so valued." Draco continued. "A wizard can't buy a house-elf, neither can he sell one, all the wizarding houses had a certain amount of magic within them, if the family that lives in the house is strong and stays in the same place for some generations then the magic becomes stronger, until it calls a house-elf. If the family frees it, the house loses a part of its magic and it can be years before it gains enough power again to have another house-elf."

"But Dobby arrived here following me."

"Yes, but believe me Potter, if this house hadn't been powerful enough to sustain two elves, then Dobby wouldn't have entered it."

Hermione still was not totally convinced, and was ready to continue arguing when Ginny entered the kitchen with Mrs. Weasley in tow, both of them looking really disturbed.

"Guys! We have trouble!"

"Ginny? Mrs. Weasley what happened?" Harry stood up worriedly while Ginny desperately clung to his arm. Mrs. Weasley tried to sound calmer than how she really felt.

"The battle has finished, but the situation is bad. There are many injured. I'm afraid that I'd have to ask for your help, we need more hands!"

"Of course Mrs. Weasley" said Hermione getting up instantly. "We'll help in what we can."

The youngsters got ready to go, except Malfoy who was looking lost and had no idea of what he should do. Harry suddenly remembered him and hesitated in his way to the main hall.

"Oh, Malfoy you have to say here. Can I trust you to not try to get away from the house? You know that if you do it there won't be any more protection from our part."

Draco looked at the seriousness on Potter's eyes and felt greatly relieved that it was not expected of him to offer help. He didn't want to risk some spy spotting him or having to face the many light wizards that he knew would have something to say against his change of sides, much less when he didn't have a wand to defend himself. He nodded at Potter and opened his mouth to assure him that he had no problems in staying when Molly Weasley retreated her steps.

"Oh my, I forgot for a moment! We really shouldn't leave him alone, that's what McGonagall ordered."

She looked at the blond intensely, Draco felt somehow attacked and pressed his lips composing his features into the cold mask he had been so good at putting on while in Hogwarts. The evident defence didn't go unnoticed by either Harry or Mrs. Weasley, and the woman was ready to say something that would ease the blond when Ginny spoke disdainfully.

"I don't see the problem; we can just let him secluded in a room and put a ward on it until someone returns. That would be enough."

Draco crossed his arms over his chest, ready to snap at the red-headed girl, but he glanced at Harry and noticed that the boy was clenching his hands tightly, the blond wondered what had gotten the Gryffindor so furious, he heard Ron's response to his sister's comment.

"Well, it's an idea."

Ron and Hermione looked like it was no big deal. Harry suddenly saw images of him being stuck in a cupboard while his aunt Petunia went shopping and Mrs. Figg couldn't take care of him. He suddenly felt a bit insulted that his friends were accepting that kind of suggestion.

"Are you crazy? That's not gonna happen! We're not letting anyone closed up in a room! If he can't be left alone then I'll stay!"

Draco was surprised that Potter seemed to be actually defending him, and by the shocked faces of Potter's friends he wasn't the only one. Ron was about to say something but Hermione, suspecting what had been the reason for Harry's anger, shut him up whit her hand, Ginny started to complain but her mother cut her out quickly, having been told a few of the most horrible facts of Harry's childhood she knew what had made the boy so upset.

"But Harry…"

"I'm sure that Mr. Malfoy here would have no problem in staying within the house's walls, and the two house-elves would be able to watch over him just in case."

She looked at the blond prompting him to agree and Malfoy did a perplexed nod before returning to look suspiciously at Potter. Mrs. Weasley considered that was enough.

"Would that be ok Harry?"

"Sure…"

"We'll return as soon as we can." Molly assured the black-haired boy, who finally relaxed a little.

"Now, let's go kiddos. Hurry up!"

Potter apologized to Malfoy and instructed the elves to not leave the property and not let Malfoy to do so and followed the others into the floo system.

Once they had left Malfoy shook his head.

"Well, that was… confusing."

"Master Harry Potter had a poor childhood. Harry Potter is sensible." Dobby felt the need to clarify the point, Draco just arched his eyebrows in wonder, he wasn't sure of what the elf meant by 'poor childhood' but he let it slip and quickly finished what was left of his breakfast without another word.

* * *

Hours passed by slower than they should, and Draco eventually got tired of reading in the library. His mind insisted to return to the garden and the hole he had started. He fought all the morning against the invisible force that seemed to be pulling him outside but after lunch he gave up and wandered again towards the improvised excavation. He looked at the patch of removed soil for a while and wondered what the hell he was doing.

Finally, unable to resist the compulsion that seemed to have gotten a hold of his mind, he took the garden shovel and started again. After several minutes of hard work he threw the little thing away, realizing for the first time that he was not progressing as fast as he should.

"Kreacher!"

The house-elf appeared instantly, he didn't seem in the least surprised of what Draco was doing, and neither did he offer help.

"Yes Master Malfoy."

"Bring me a bigger shovel! Quick!"

"Of course Master."

The elf did as he was told and Draco started working again. It never occurred to him to order the elves to do the job.

It was almost dark when Draco finally finished uncovering a big circular bronze plate that looked like the entrance to a vault, it had ancient runes all over its surface and a star shaped form with strange symbols covering them. Malfoy analyzed it curiously, wondering how he could move the thing as he had no wand to levitate it.

He thought about entering the house for parchment and copy the runes, the star seemed some kind of seal. He brushed away some of the dust with his hand and in doing so his skin touched the center of the plate. The star-seal brightened and disappeared, then with a hollow sound the thing started to move. Surprised, Draco jumped back a step and watched as a hole big enough for a person was uncovered. A set of stairs leaded into the dark underground and Malfoy stood at the top, not sure of what to do. He probably should tell someone about this, but at the moment he was alone and feeling that he couldn't think straight. He started to climb down the stairs before realizing that he wouldn't see a thing down there, he stopped intending to retrace the few steps he had taken down, but his body refused to cooperate, it was as if his legs wanted to go down. Malfoy felt a pang of panic inside, which increased when in front of his eyes appeared a sphere of light, the thing hovered for a moment and then advanced, illuminating the way ahead. Malfoy gulped and before he realized it his feet were moving, following the sphere downstairs.

'_Merlin, what's happening?'_

The panic was slowly turning to terror when Malfoy couldn't stop again, but suddenly he felt something inside him, a soothing feeling telling him that he was in no danger. Draco blinked in confusion but stopped fighting and let himself be guided by the strange orb.

He descended to a tunnel excavated in the earth, it smelled old and the soil walls didn't look stable to him, but he continued following the light, soon he reached an intersection with a solid looking corridor and the orb turned left. Malfoy noticed that the corridor extended to both sides and wondered where it came from, but it was pitch dark to the right and he decided to explore it later when he'll have a light and a body that he could actually control, for the moment he hurried to catch the orb that continued advancing down the empty corridor.

It stopped at the very end and Malfoy found himself in front of a strange multicolored wall. It looked ethereal and the colors were constantly changing. Draco had the impression to be looking into a wall of colorful water, it was bright but for some reason it didn't illuminate the corridor, Malfoy hadn't even noticed it until he had been facing it.

He lifted a hand in wonder and looked as it got trough the eerie wall, a feeling of longing that he was certain was not his seeped trough his very soul and he closed his eyes. Visions of a big dragon playing with him soaked his brain and then there was again the feeling of flying, of wanting to escape, fear that he wouldn't make it, moments before some ancient magic sucked him away and then a big structure in front of him, surprise and panic as he went crashing into something…

Draco opened his eyes and stared at the colors playing before him, debating whether to take a risk and cross the wall or return the way he had come and stay with his doubts. After a moment he sighed in defeat, somehow he knew that whatever force responsible for the dreams, sleepwalking and sometimes odd behaviour would not let him simply walk away from this. Bracing himself for what may come he gave a step and crossed the wall.


	6. Rediscoveries

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Author's note:** Another chapter! Sorry for the long wait between chapters, but I have a full time job and little time to write. But no matter what! I won't abandon this fic! Thanks to all that had reviewed.

**Chapter 05.**** Rediscoveries.**

Harry stepped out of the fireplace followed by Moody. It had turned out that the situation hadn't been so bad, sure there had been plenty of injured and some dead, but St. Mungo's mediwizards had had everything under control. Harry and his friends were only required to help take care of the most gravely injured until they could transport them to St. Mungo's.

Mr. Weasley had been hurt and Fred too. The Weasley family was going to stay the night in St. Mungo's, Hermione had gone with Madam Pomfrey to help her prepare some potions for the order and Moody had took Harry away as soon as a mediwitch had informed them that both patients were fine and would be fit to leave the Hospital the next day. The Weasleys would be back at Grimmauld place the next morning, so Alastor promised that he would stay the night in the house; Lupin and Tonks would probably arrive overnight too.

Harry looked around the parlour and then went upstairs in search of Draco. After looking for the Slytherin in the library without result he went to the blonde's bedroom and knocked on the door. He didn't get response and he entered, wondering if his ex-rival was asleep. The room was semi-dark and empty; Harry scowled and went over to the window. The garden could be seen from there but Harry could barely distinguish the silhouettes of the plants below him. It was late. One could still see the brilliant red and golden horizon, signalling that the sun had just set, but it was already dark in the house.

Harry wondered where Malfoy could be and then he spotted something strange at the far corner of the garden. The Gryffindor scowled and remembered that he had found Malfoy there the day before. Surely the boy wasn't removing soil again? Harry stepped out of the bedroom and went to the garden.

* * *

Malfoy stared in awe at the huge chamber he had entered. It was as big as a Quidditch stadium and all made in granite and marble, the columns had different carvings of dragons and runes with various precious stones and gems. Draco couldn't see the ceiling; a brilliant clarity seemed to emanate from some place above. All around the chamber were several portals similar to the one he had come from; every one of them had a crest above it.

Malfoy recognized the emblems of the Zabinis, the Parkinsons', Notts', Puceys', and the Lestranges'. He was starting to think that the place was something created by the dark wizards, but then he recognized the Bones' crest, the Longbottoms', Dumbledore's emblem was above the last portal he was analyzing.

_'What is this place?'_

Malfoy turned away from the portals and started to examine the carvings on the columns. He discovered a staircase behind a big wall, and was thinking about going to see what was upstairs when he heard a voice calling for him.

"Malfoy! Are you in here?"

"Potter!"

Draco panicked and hurriedly looked for the Black's portal, not stopping to think how he could hear the Gryffindor when it was obvious that he was no more in Grimmauld place. He crossed the portal and rand through the corridor, not caring that the light orb was not there anymore, he already knew the way. Soon he could see light illuminating the intersection with the tunnel ahead of him. Potter could not reach the corridor! He had to get the black-haired boy out of the place! Draco's shoes screeched when he turned around the corner and crashed right into Harry, taking them both to the ground. The green-eyed Gryffindor fought to breathe again for a few seconds and then glared at the blond above him, he had lost hold of his wand but fortunately the light was still on. He was ready to lash verbally at Draco when the earth started shaking. Harry saw Malfoy's eyes widen in panic when it looked like the tunnel would collapse. The blond was on his feet instantly and grabbed Harry's wrist, dragging him without explanation to the exit.

As soon as both boys were out in the garden again, the bronze door moved and closed the hole. The young men took a minute to recover from the run and Harry noticed that the garden was illuminated by torches. He took a deep breath and turned to look at Malfoy's back, the blond was still standing near the strange bronze plate as if considering something. Harry scowled and took a step towards Draco.

"Malfoy what the hell was that?"

"What are you talking about?"

Malfoy's voice was a bit rough. Harry wasn't in the mood to be fooling around.

"Don't give me that Malfoy! You know pretty well what! How did you know there was a tunnel here? Where does it lead Malfoy?"

The blond straightened and he looked at Harry over his shoulder. His voice was extremely calm.

"You must be confused Potter. I didn't see any tunnel."

Harry stared and reached for his wand, freezing when he realized that he didn't have it. Draco turned around to face the Gryffindor boy, Harry's wand in hand.

"And neither did you. Obliviate!"

The curse hit home and Harry fell backwards, a surprised look on his eyes registered instants before he lost consciousness. Draco looked at the still form for a second and then fell to his knees. He was exhausted.

"Kreacher! Dobby!"

Both house-elves appeared instantly. Dobby squeaked and ran to Harry as soon as he saw him.

"Harry Potter sir! What happened to Harry Potter?"

"He… he followed me…" answered Draco automatically, not sure of how he had managed to hex Potter or why. Dobby stopped his frantic jumping around Harry and looked at Draco with wide eyes.

"Master Draco has come down Sir? Master Draco remembers now?"

Malfoy looked at the elf and was at a loss of words, his head was spinning and the situation was not making any sense to him. He needed to rest. He groaned and rubbed his temples with one hand.

"Dobby, take Potter to the library. I'm not sure of what he'll remember."

"Dobby take care of Harry Potter! Master Draco not worry!"

"Oh, and take this."

Malfoy gave Harry's wand to the elf, who took it, and with a snap and a loud pop both Dobby and Harry's body were out of sight. Malfoy sighed and looked at the other elf.

"Master Malfoy should go rest. Kreacher take tea to Master's bedroom."

"I want to know what's happening Kreacher!"

"Master is remembering soon. We elves look out for Master."

"And what about this?" He signaled to the bronze 'trap door' and scowled. Kreacher didn't look worried.

"Entrance buried itself when Masters of the manor could see dragons no more. Now Master can use it, no one else would know."

"Potter did. He entered looking for me."

The elf made an annoyed face.

"Yes. Because he has power. He is eligible." The utter distaste in the elf's voice convinced Draco that the creature was not happy about that particularity of its new Master. "But now Master Draco can wish for no one to see and no one would. Not even Master Potter. Only those who can see dragons will see."

Draco wanted to ask more, it was obvious that the elves had a very good idea of what was happening, but his eyelids were heavy and his head was just about to give up on consciousness. He decided to leave things at peace for the night and hoped that Potter would be ok in Dobby's care.

Unknown to him, a figure on one of the windows of the second floor of the house was carefully watching every move of the young blond. Alastor Moody smiled. The door had been opened. Now it was just a matter of time…

* * *

Harry waked up slowly; it took some time for the fog in his mind to clear and realize that he was on one of the library couches. He sat up and shook his head to rid it of the foggy feeling; he didn't remember having fallen asleep in the library. He had arrived to the house with Moody and had been looking for Malfoy… Malfoy! Harry didn't remember having seen the blond before falling asleep. Malfoy wasn't in the library with him and the Gryffindor couldn't remember if he had checked the bedroom. He heard a pop near him and turned to see Dobby jumping beside him.

"Master Harry Potter is awake! Master Harry Potter would be wanting something?"

"No Dobby, thanks. Where's Malfoy?"

"Master Malfoy is sleeping in bedroom."

"Sleeping?" Harry felt that something was slipping his mind; he tried to concentrate and remember. He had entered Malfoy's bedroom, he had walked to the bed… he remembered a blond mop of hair on the pillow… he had returned to the library then… Harry frowned, something was not quite right with that memory but he couldn't tell exactly what it was…

"Master Harry Potter should go to bed sir! Not healthy to sleep on couch!" Dobby admonished him and Harry sighed. The elf wasn't going to let him concentrate. He turned weary eyes to the hyperactive creature and let it guide him to his bedroom.

* * *

Severus Snape walked hurriedly towards the cellar; he could feel the magic seeping through the entire house, calling to him after so many years of silence. He made his way to the secret door and the tunnel, not pausing even to procure a light. He stopped when he reached the dead end and smiled… Instead of a stone wall he was in front of a brilliant multicolored one. Snape reached over and for the first time in years felt the power of ancient magic run through him, it was not as strong as it used to be in the past, but the wizard enjoyed it nonetheless. Soon they'll have revenge and they'll recover what was taken from them. He smirked in anticipation and crossed the portal.

Snape walked through the immense chamber, taking his time to look around him and touch the columns, tracing the intricate patterns engraved in them. There was no hurry, after all everyone was doing exactly the same as him. Snape just barely glanced at the other witches and wizards that were in the chamber, all of them getting reacquainted with the place, and continued his exploring.

It was almost like the first time he had entered. This place had a special aura in it, the magic and power had always been strong and intoxicating for some, but there was also a feeling of tranquility that Snape had missed so much. All of these feelings were still there, but dampened. Severus had the impression that the power of the place was growing weaker by the moment. Soon it would exist no more.

After some minutes he walked over to the group of wizards that had already finished their explorations and were greeting each other.

Few wizards knew about the chamber, despite the many portals that lead to it from almost every part of Britain, each one coming from an ancient wizarding home. A good number of the portals had been un-active for generations and others had recently gone dormant after the traitorous attack seventeen years ago, the wizards and witches that survived said attack had found out that part of their magic had been somehow sealed and they couldn't use all the power they originally had.

They almost disappeared, but they'll recover, Snape was sure of that; after all it was relatively easy to broke the seal, they only needed for Draco to do his part and they'd took care of everything else. Granted, Snape knew that it was not going to be easy to convince Draco about the importance to fulfill his "duty" as soon as possible, especially taking in consideration what exactly said "duty" implied. The man could only imagine what was going to be Draco's reaction upon realizing that he'd have no say in the matter.

Snape joined the group and everyone turned to him, almost immediately they gave him condolences for Albus Dumbledore's decease and he accepted them as gracious as he could. Though he still was a bit resentful with the man for having allowed things to happen the way they did, he knew that there had not been any other choice. The rest of the wizards knew that it had to be done and were not sorry for him because he had been forced to kill Dumbledore; their sorrow was because the old man had been a good guide and mentor, as well as one of the most powerful amongst them. It had been a shame to have to lose him.

After their brief moment of mourning over Dumbledore someone conjured proper seats and soon everyone was sitting in comfortable armchairs. One of the witches started speaking.

"So Alastor, how are things going? Did the boy have any problems?"

"Not at all Salamanca. He was alone when he discovered the entrance. But it really surprised me that he chose the hardest one to work on!"

"It was the garden one then." Said Nott, who was at Snape's right side.

"Yes, it was. But it has little importance now. I'm going to use glamour to cover it, just to be in the safe side. The Potter boy was capable to see it."

Some surprised gasps were heard among the concurrence. Snape gave an unpleasant sneer.

"I suppose you have already taken care of that."

"Don't fret Snape, it's well taken care for. Malfoy's instincts kicked in and he obliviated the boy."

Every one visibly relaxed and another wizard spoke tentatively.

"Well… it's not so bad after all… it means that our guess was the correct one this time…"

The woman, Salamanca, smiled appreciatively at the nervous man.

"Indeed Horace, but the Potter heir would still remain ignorant of us for a little while. Once we have this problem past us we would have enough time to instruct those with potential and to take care of the families that had forgotten about our ancient heritance. For now our only concern should be the Malfoy heir. He had gone to the right place, now we must continue to check on him. Tonight he will have every memory about his dragon back. Tomorrow he will be curious to learn more, maybe he'll go to the book first or try to get some information by himself, but eventually he'd return here and his guide would be waiting."

Another witch, an elder one sighed rather loudly and complained.

"Can't Moody bring him here tomorrow? Time is passing by and he still has to be taught many things!"

"Yes, we are pressured, but have a little more patience Ana. We should grant him some time to get to know his dragon. It may be of help for him to understand the importance of his 'mission'. It would be far better if he willingly accepts to do it."

Everyone seemed to agree on that statement and soon after that they parted ways, returning to their respective portals.

* * *

Draco was hugging the scaly head that was in front of him, ecstatic in the knowledge that the beautiful creature was his. All his! There was a deep magical bond between them that Draco could feel from the moment he woke up.

The memories were still a bit blurry, but he remembered that the last time he had seen Sally had been on his fifth birthday. The very moment he had understood that the ghostly dragon was a real creature and not an imaginary friend like the grown ups had insisted on telling him. Of course he had never mentioned to anyone the fact that Sally was a dragon. When his parents ever took an interest on his childish activities, which had not been often, he always had said that he had been 'playing with Sally' and nothing else. Soon he had learned not to mention his friend at all, seeing that his father disapproved of such foolish things like 'imaginary friends'. Sally had quickly become his childhood secret, only Dobby and Kreacher had known about it.

Draco smiled at the name 'Sally'. Such a common name. Well, after all he had been only three when he had named his dragon. 'Sally' had been his attempt at naming the creature after Salazar Slytherin, because his father admired that man so much, and the little boy had supposed that 'Sally' would be a good name, seeing that Salazar had been more difficult for him to pronounce and the fact that his dragon was a girl.

Malfoy pulled away from Sally a little to better see the dragon's yellow eyes, he was still on his bed, the creature had been waiting for him to wake up at his bedside. Draco had not thought it strange that the dragon had managed to fit in the bedroom, he knew from past experience that Sally's body was like that of a ghost. Only tangible to him and invisible to everybody else. In fact, Draco knew that Sally was not actually **in** his bedroom. She was in his mind. He could see and touch her only because he wanted to. The blond felt confused by that knowledge, the dragon was real, he was sure of that, but he was having problems with the concept of a real, huge creature taking his mind as residence. He needed someone to explain things to him, but before that he needed to vent other slightly less complicated doubts.

"Sally, why did you leave?"

He listened to a voice in his mind, deep, powerful, so sweet at the same time, and he suddenly realized how much he had missed that voice.

**_'Never left._****_ I've been always here. You only forgot that.'_**

"But why?"

**_'It was necessary, or people would have started to get suspicious. No one could know that I'm here.'_**

"Not even me?" asked Draco a little hurt; the dragon nuzzled his hair in a comforting gesture.

**_'Both of us were babies, not powerful enough to prevent mind reading.'_**

"I'm happy I learned to occlude then."

He had a lot more questions in his mind, but at that moment someone knocked at the door. Malfoy turned just in time to see Potter poking his head in.

"Malfoy, are you coming to breakfast? It's late…"

The black-haired boy looked at the room in shock for a second; he blinked a couple of times and resisted the urge to rub his eyes. For a moment he had thought that a dragon was beside Draco's bed, but that was clearly ridiculous, it must have been a trick of the light.

"Something wrong Potter?"

Harry focused again in the blond Slytherin and forgot about dragons.

"Nothing… err… well, are you coming or not?"

"I'm not really hungry…" Draco's stomach disagreed rather loudly to that statement and the blond blushed in embarrassment. Potter found that pretty amusing.

"I think that it will be better if you listen to your stomach. Come on sleepy head! No one is going to eat you after all."

Draco grumped in annoyance and got out of bed. He needed to find some time to talk with Sally and it would be difficult if the house was going to be full of Order members again.

* * *

The day passed by without disturbances. Draco was painfully aware of Sally's presence behind his eyes. It was like having someone seeing everything from above your shoulder, and it was wearing him tired. Apparently Sally had been dormant since his fifth birthday and now she wanted to know more about the new people around her human. Besides from Sally, Draco was aware that his sensitivity to magic had increased, he could feel tenuous tendrils of magic around people when he was near enough to them, and not only people, he felt the magic on objects too. That shouldn't bee a bad thing, but Draco discovered that living in a house which had centuries of dark magic in it could be a bit overwhelming. He felt the house's magic constantly as a background sound, though it didn't feel oppressive or menacing, it only felt pretty strong, and to Draco's wonder, it seemed to be singing! Houses should not know how to sing! And even if they did, it was certainly the last thing Malfoy would have expected from a dark wizards' home! He thanked the gods for not been in Hogwarts. If the Black manor was singing, Merlin only knew what the castle would do!

He was not so surprised to discover that he could 'feel' Potter's magic at a considerable distance from him while he had to be at arms length from the others to sense their magic. Sally was curious about Potter; he was the most powerful wizard in the house, including Moody and Professor McGonagall who had passed by to see if everything was in order. Draco told his dragon a little about Harry, thankful that his thoughts were enough to communicate with her, and could feel that Sally was taking special interest in his long-time school rival.

He was a bit surprised to see that Granger's magic felt stronger than Weasley's, but then he thought it fitting and reassured in his previous conception that Ron Weasley was a mediocre wizard. Ginny and Mrs. Weasley's magic had the same strength as Granger's while McGonagall's and Tonk's were a bit stronger. Remus Lupin felt… strange. He had strong magic but it seemed wrong somehow… tainted. Draco supposed that it was because Lupin was a werewolf and Sally agreed with him. The dragon felt uncomfortable around Lupin, her instinct told her that the man-beast could be a treat to her human, so Draco procured to keep his distance from the werewolf.

The real surprise was Moody. No sooner the ex-auror entered the kitchen at dinner time than Sally was practically jumping in joy inside Draco. The blond had nearly choked on his food and glared inwardly at his dragon for the exuberant display. Moody felt strong but not so much as Harry, however there was something different in him, but it was dampened, hidden. _Sealed_. It was as if some part of Mad eye's magic was missing. And there was the trail of something else too. The tell-tale of ancient magic. It was a bond, Sally could feel it, the man had a bond with one of her kind.

Malfoy fought very hard the look of pure astonishment that wanted to show on his face. Moody moved about the kitchen unconcerned and took a bite or two of a sandwich. Then he stared at the blond boy for a moment and his lips twitched in delight. Draco gulped and averted his eyes. Moody had always made him feel scared and the boy preferred to not cross paths with him. The only reason Draco had accepted to be in the training session with Mad eye was because the ex-auror had practically ordered it and Malfoy didn't want to be on the man's bad side.

The blond was considering if it would be a good idea to approach Moody, when the man suddenly announced that he was going to leave for a mission and would not return for a couple of days. He insisted that the youngsters should continue their training in his absence and not be fooling around. Ron gave a loud groan at that.

Draco didn't have the opportunity to talk with Mad eye before the man left, but didn't feel particularly upset about it. He needed to ask many questions but he figured that it could wait until the man returned from his mission. That way he'd have time to think about the best way to approach Moody, and maybe he'd be lucky and found another one with a dragon-bond too. That would be ideal.

Draco went to sleep still thinking about dragons and how to research the bond he shared with Sally. He did notice that the house was not singing anymore and thanked Merlin for that.

* * *

The next day Draco sleepily walked into the kitchen to find a crowd already in there. He rubbed his eyes and stared at the faces that were awkwardly looking at him. Besides Granger and the Weasley younger siblings there were Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Lupin, Tonks, Longbottom, professor McGonagall and Rubeus Hagrid, who was occupying a large space by the table. Draco frowned in confusion and annoyance, he still wasn't used to feel the magic around him and the number of people present was making his head ache.

"Wha…?"

"Pff. Nobody told the elves to take HIS breakfast to his room today?" Ginny glared at Malfoy, who only stared back at her.

"Ginny! Don't be so rude! He's living in this house too and as Harry's guest he can take a piece of cake too!" said Mrs. Weasley, clearly annoyed at her child's behavior. Draco was still confused.

"Cake?" He looked to the table and noticed the huge cake that was at the middle of it. A birthday cake.

_'Oh, shit! It's Potter's birthday!'_

Malfoy quickly put his indifferent mask in place to hide his hurt. Of course Harry's friends would not want him there, and Potter was bound to feel uncomfortable if he stayed at his birthday party and would eventually ask him to leave. The blond was starting to turn around to escape when the kitchen door opened again and a disheveled Harry entered escorted by the Weasley twins, who were singing a much distorted version of Happy Birthday.

Draco winced at the loud noise when the rest of the concurrence joined into the song and tried to disappear as quietly as possible. But before he could reach the door Potter spotted him and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards the table.

"Where are you going Malfoy? I'm sure you haven't eaten yet! You have to try Mrs. Weasley's cake, it's wonderful!"

Harry ignored the surprised looks that his friends were sending him and focused on the looks of approval that Tonks and Mrs. Weasley had on their faces. As far as he was concerned he was going to get to know Malfoy better and bring him to the light side completely, even if he had to force the blond to spend time with him and his friends. He was absolutely convinced that they had a chance to still be friends and no one was going to spoil it.

The black haired Gryffindor dragged Malfoy to a chair and made him seat, proceeding then to blew of the candles and cut the cake. Draco was confused but remained quietly at Potter's side. The others soon realized that Harry was not going to shun Malfoy from the party and so they resigned themselves to have the blond around. After some initial tense moments everyone relaxed enough and started to chat animatedly, much to Harry's joy.

After breakfast, the youngsters went into the sitting room while the grown ups stayed in the kitchen talking about strategy for the war. Draco had resigned himself to spend the day in Gryffindor's company and tried to focus only on Harry's magic, so he could ignore everyone else's. After a while he succeeded in blocking his sensitivity and was actually starting to lower his defenses. He even accepted to play exploding snap with Neville.

Harry was satisfied, he knew that his friends were reluctant to give Malfoy a chance but they were willing to humor Harry and not segregate the blond for the day. They probably reasoned that the more time Malfoy spent in their company, the less chance he had of plotting betrayals.

Harry looked at the blond Slytherin scowling in concentration. Malfoy was not so bad when he wasn't behaving like a spoiled mini-Lucius. He even had started to open a little more during their training sessions and Harry was planning to convince Remus to allow the blond to take part of the magical training too.

The day went by quietly; the youngsters even tried to clean up the garden a little and ended up just having a quick Quidditch game. They had dinner in the big table at the dinning room and all of them were in high spirits. It seemed that the day had been a success. That was until Ginny started an unwanted conversation.

The red-headed girl had been fuming all day. She was extremely unhappy that Malfoy was still there with them and wasn't showing signals of leaving any time soon. She was a bit putout that her brothers didn't seem to be as uncomfortable as she was. What was the matter with them? Had they forgotten that the Malfoys were evil dark wizards? Had everyone forgotten that Draco Malfoy was the enemy and that he would hand them over to the Death Eaters as soon as he could?

What was worse was that Harry apparently had decided to give the git the benefit of the doubt. Harry was letting his guard down and was allowing Malfoy to get closer to him. Ginny couldn't let that happen. In her opinion the blond Slytherin didn't deserve Harry's help. He hadn't the right to be taking part of Harry's birthday and it was time that someone did something about it.

"Have you been reading the news lately? The situation is worse each day. You-know-who is getting stronger and Remus had told us that the werewolves are not seeing any advantages in supporting the light."

"Ginny, maybe this is not the best time to be discussing things like that." Said Hermione, it was Harry's birthday and unless anything real bad happened, she saw no reason to remember her friend of the war.

"But we should be worried about doing something! The Order keeps finding murdered people everywhere! Like the blond woman that Shacklebolt found in that alley near the Ministry building. You remember her, right George?"

The twin looked at his sister in confusion while everybody else tensed. It had been a sad case in the news a couple of days earlier that week, the aurors had have the theory that the woman had been tortured by Death Eaters as some kind of vengeance. George had been reading it just before Ginny had taken the Prophet borrowed.

"Well, yeah. Like many others. Why?"

"It was terrible the way she was tortured, the body was unrecognizable, she had all her bones crushed and…"

"Gezz Ginny!" Ron interrupted with a grimace. "Please! We don't want to hear those gross comments today! Especially while we are having dinner!"

Everyone agreed with Ron, Draco however kept quiet and Harry could feel that the blond was really upset. The black-haired boy glared to the red-headed girl.

"Just leave it Ginny. We deal with that kind of news everyday, we could do without them for a while."

"But Harry, that woman died in such a horrible way, and she could have been anyone…"

"Ginny, just stop." Said Fred, in an attempt to make his sister change the subject with no luck.

"… like Mrs. Malfoy for example. No one knows her whereabouts, for all we know that anonymous woman could have been her. Right?"

The entire room was shocked into silence; Ginny took advantage of that to look at Malfoy pointedly.

"Don't you think so Malfoy? After all, YOUR Lord is not exactly known for his kindness. It's almost certain that Narcissa has been dead for months now…"

"Ginny shut the fuck up already!" Harry yelled at her as Draco calmly got up and walked outside the dinning room.

"Lovely party Potter. If you excuse me."

The blond was gone and Harry clenched his fists in anger. Ginny was oblivious to his mood and happily walked towards him and tried to hug him.

"Well, now we can really enjoy ourselves and finish the day in the right company…"

She hadn't expected to be shoved away roughly and she landed on her ass.

"Ow! Harry? What…?"

"How dare you! That was low Ginny!"

The red-head stared shocked at Harry's angry face, her brothers seemed pretty embarrassed.

"But Harry! Why are you mad? You can't possibly be feeling bad for him! He's Malfoy!"

"Oh, and so I suppose I shouldn't give a damn on how he feels?"

"Of course you shouldn't! Who cares about him? He's a self-righteous git and he deserves everything that's coming to him! You couldn't have forgotten so soon the terrible things he used to do in school!"

Harry's lips were pressed tightly and his eyes shot daggers at Ginny before getting up and stomping towards the hall.

"He was an insufferable bastard! So what? He asked for help! And I happen to know how it feels to have your mother murdered because you aren't capable of defending her!"

Harry exited the room in rage. Ginny stared open mouthed for a while and then tried to follow him.

"Wait, Harry!"

"Stop it Ginny! Leave him alone!" Fred grabbed Ginny's arm and prevented her from going after Harry. The girl tried to shove him away.

"Let me go! I have to talk with him!"

"You realize that he's upset and…"

"He'll probably hex you Ginny." The twins said and the girl crossed her arms angrily.

"I don't know what the big deal is! He shouldn't be that worked over Malfoy!"

The twins looked away and Ron shrugged.

"Perhaps not, but you know Harry Ginny, and what you said, well…"

Ginny turned over and glared at her brother.

"What Ron? It was just a comment!"

"And it was an unnecessarily cruel one Ginny." Said Hermione, returning the glare, Ginny looked openmouthed at them.

"I can't believe it! Have the lot of you forgotten who he is? He's bloody Malfoy! He's Death Eater's material!"

"We're not so sure about the Death Eater part anymore Ginny." Said Neville, clearly upset about the whole incident.

"Are you mad? Are you going to let the bastard worm his way close to Harry? I can't believe you are actually feeling sorry for what happens to the git!"

"Look Ginny, I don't really give a damn about Malfoy's feelings!" said Ron, starting to get angry. "But that doesn't mean that I go around rubbing his misery into his face every time I can just for the fun of it!"

"Oh, no? You teased him well enough about his lost heritance!"

"Yeah, well that's different! It's only money; it's not a big deal!"

"No? And why is it different from my earlier comment?"

"Ginny, you can't compare…"

"Money is just a thing Ginny. It comes and goes…"

"It may hurt him to have lost his rich boy position, but that's not as bad as…"

"Having lost a parent." The twins were looking serious and Ginny just glared at them.

"Just think of what you'll feel if mom or dad were in Narcissa's place." Said Ron seriously. Ginny sniffed and marched to the exit.

"It's not the same! Malfoy deserves it!"

"Ginny…"

"And the lot of you are letting your guard down around him! But I won't let him get close to my Harry!"

The red-head got out, leaving the rest of the youngsters really frustrated about her lack of comprehension.

* * *

Draco was sitting on his bed, head over his knees and arms hugging his legs. He had tried to not think about his mother and he had had almost managed to convince himself that she would be ok. But he couldn't deny the fear he felt. The probability of his mother been ok was almost non-existent and he knew that she should be dead. But he hadn't wanted to think about it, about how bad a son he was. He couldn't protect her. He couldn't even search for her. He was useless. His mother was dead.

Malfoy felt the sting of tears trying to escape his eyes and bit his lips angrily. Something appeared beside him and a big head rubbed his back gently.

Draco was relaxing enough to let a few tears run down his cheeks when he heard the door been opened and the contact with Sally disappeared. He cursed under his breath and wished the intruder away.

"Malfoy?"

"Go away Potter. Leave me be."

He was surprised to feel the mattress sink at his side and before he could protest two strong arms were embracing him. Draco's body tensed and he immediately fought the embrace. To his utter surprise, his struggling only made Harry's arms hold him tighter.

"Leave me go Potter! I don't want your pity!"

"I don't pity you Draco. But I know what is it like to lose someone dear to you, and I'm not going to let you alone with this."

Draco gaped and was really glad that the black-haired Gryffindor could not see his shocked face. He continued his struggles half-heartily.

"Fuck you Potter! Don't try to be nice to me! It doesn't fit you and I don't need it! So leave me the fuck alone!"

"No, I won't leave you! You were asking for help the entire last year of school and I couldn't see it! You still need that help Draco, I know you do! No one should have to experience what you had all alone!"

"Why you bloody care? That damn hero-complex of yours is eating up your brain Potter? I hate you!"

"Both of us know that's not true anymore Draco. Perhaps it was never true to begin with. Maybe your pride was just hurt and you covered it by starting a childish grudge, or maybe you were only acting like a Malfoy was supposed to. But you don't hate me, and neither do I."

Draco was shocked into submission by those words, his entire body was trembling and he was having a hard time choking his sobs.

"W-what do you w-want P-Potter?"

The arms holding him loosened a little and the forceful embrace turned into a comforting one.

"I want for us to start over again. To know each other. We have been doing fairly well these last weeks. I don't want you to start acting like a git again because of what Ginny said. I don't know what's wrong with her. Please, just let me get to know you."

Malfoy didn't know what to do, he felt emotionally overwhelmed. He had never thought it possible that Potter would want to start over again with him. Besides, it felt good to be held by the Gryffindor. Draco finally surrendered and let the tears escape his eyes freely.

"Damn Potter. Whoever gave you permission to grow up and mature while I wasn't looking?"

Harry chuckled quietly and rearranged his position on the bed to a more comfortable one, with Draco between his legs and the blond head over his chest. He let the Slytherin cry and held him until he fell asleep. He never saw the pair of brilliant yellow eyes that were watching them from a corner.

* * *

The next day at breakfast, Harry was amused to see a very embarrassed blond at the table. Ron and Hermione apologized for Ginny's comments the previous day and mistook Malfoy's red cheeks for suppressed anger and dropped the subject immediately.

Draco was very grateful that they had something to blame for his discomfort. He'd hate to have to think of a suitable reason for his suddenly distant behavior and he certainly wasn't going to tell anyone that he had cried himself to sleep in Harry Potter's arms. How undignified of him! Malfoys never show weakness to anyone! Sure, he had already decided that he was going to stop acting the Malfoy part, but this kind of situation had certainly not been in his mind at the moment. He couldn't stop the feeling of shame when he remembered how good it had felt to be comforted, and that he had allowed it! He had cried in front of Potter! He would never live it down!

Draco finished his breakfast in silence as soon as he could and excused himself. He was going to hide in his room and never ever came out again.

Harry sighed when Draco exited the kitchen and offered an apologetic smile to his friends before going after the blond, leaving Hermione and Ron to explain to a slightly confused Remus the reason of Malfoy's discomfort, or at least what they knew of it.

The dark-haired boy smiled when he saw Malfoy trying to open the door to his bedroom. The blond had no idea that Harry had spelled the door earlier so it couldn't be opened from the outside until bedtime. The Gryffindor was not going to let Malfoy hide anymore, he had had enough of childish grudges and he was determined to have Malfoy as a willing ally.

"Damn!"

"You know, it's no use to hide away. The world would find you sooner of later."

Draco sighed and rested his forehead on the door; he had never wanted Potter to see him this weak.

"What do you want Potter?"

"I thought that we had already gone about this."

Harry closed the distance between them, putting a hand on Malfoy's shoulder.

"Come on Malfoy, don't be like this. Let's try to be friends; you can't isolate yourself from the world."

"Wanna watch me try?"

"Not really. Look, I'm not really sure myself why I'm offering you friendship, I mean, we had been fighting since we met, but that doesn't feel right anymore. Is just… I can't really explain it… you are different, you have not been acting like a spoiled git anymore, and your fights with Ron are not as vicious as they used to be. So far, I like the part of you that you're finally showing. We haven't even throw hexes at each other since you arrived!"

"That, Potter, is because I find myself bereft of the means to cause proper damage. I assure you that if I had had my wand with me, Ronald Weasley would have gotten what he deserves a couple of times."

"Ah, well good for us that you lost it."

Harry smiled at the painful groan that Draco emitted and he nudged the blond to move and get away from the door.

"Come on Malfoy, it had not been that bad."

"No, I suppose not."

Draco straightened again and looked directly at Harry… with big yellow eyes. The Gryffindor gasped and took a step backwards. Draco frowned in confusion at the other boy's reaction.

"What?"

Harry approached again and looked intently into Draco's eyes, which had returned to their normal color.

"Mm… nothing, just… your eyes change color?"

Draco's frown deepened.

"What do you mean? My eyes have always been grey."

"Hey Harry?"

The boys turned towards Ron's voice, the red-head was at the end of the hallway.

"Are you two ready?"

Harry had a moment of confusion and then remembered.

"Ah, yes. Coming Ron!" He returned to look at Malfoy sheepishly. "Heh, I almost forgot. Before you came to breakfast we were wondering if you could show us that garden door, the one you said that leads to a forest."

Draco relaxed, for a second he had thought that Potter remembered the bronze trap door.

"Sure."

"Great, come on, Remus is going to go with us."

Malfoy started walking keeping himself about a step behind Harry. He felt more at ease and wondered how Potter had managed to change his humor. The dark-haired Gryffindor was getting to him in a way that no one had done before.

**_'He's powerful. His magic is strong.'_**

Draco could feel Sally moving within him. He could tell that she was pleased, but he didn't know exactly why.

**_'He's nice too. He would make a good mate. He would make strong human-cubs.'_**

Draco chuckled inwardly.

_'Indeed'_

They got to the garden and reunited with the rest of the guys. Ron and Hermione looked intently at Malfoy to be sure that he was ok. The werewolf and Tonks were there too, as well as Ginny, who had just arrived from the Burrow. The red-head immediately pulled Harry's arm and the boy shrugged her off, but Draco didn't notice it.

_'But not with me'_ he thought somewhat sadly and focused his attention on Lupin, who was asking him questions. He wasn't aware of the quiet last foreign thought in his head.

**_'We'll see about that…'_**

* * *

**Author's note:** Mmmm… I hope I'm making sense with this.


	7. Looking for Answers

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Chapter 06.**** Looking for Answers.**

At night, Draco was sitting on his bed with the mysterious book he had found in the library. Harry had forbidden him to take anything out of the library, but what Potter didn't know wouldn't harm him, and the blond was tired to have to sneak into the drawing room when nobody was around. He had spent a couple of nights trying vainly to decipher the text and was growing frustrated. He had failed to recognize the language and all the books about ancient runes in the library were entirely useless.

He hadn't managed to find anything about the Rainbow Dragons either, there was not a book on magical creatures that mentioned them, but Sally had been helpful on that issue and had told him a little about her species. The Rainbow Dragons were the only kind of dragons that could use and tame wild magic at their will. They bonded with certain wizards and gave a boast to the wizard's inherent magic, but the wizard should be strong already, as the bond with the dragon required a lot of energy to be complete. Draco was a special case; the bond with his dragon had had to be done when he hadn't even been borne. It had taken a very special kind of magic to do it and the effort had practically ended Sally's mother's life.

Sally had explained as best as she could why the bond had to be done, although she was not sure of the reason why they had been running away from the wizards. She had been a baby at the moment and there had not been enough time for explanations, but she understood that her father had been betrayed by his wizard and killed. Due to that betrayal, her mother hadn't been able to open the door to their own world, and so they had been stuck. The only way for Sally to survive had been the bond.

Another world… Malfoy was most intrigued by that. Where did the Dragons come from? Sally wasn't really sure. She had never visited that other world that her mother had mentioned. She did know that there was something preventing the door between both realms to be opened, and that was a really bad thing because it meant that Sally's magic will eventually drain out. She was by no means an adult yet, in fact, in dragon years she was still a child, and she could feel the bond with Draco growing stronger and demanding more energy from her.

Sally knew that she was not strong enough to maintain the bond, when the magic lent by her mother at the moment of creating it disappeared, it will drain hers. Sally will eventually ran out of magic and die, and since the spell to protect her would not allow for her to get out of Draco's body and take her corporeal form until the door between the worlds can be opened, then she would take Draco with her. She was certain of that.

The Slytherin was most unhappy with that bit of knowledge. He didn't want Sally to die and he didn't want to die either. So he was trying to get more information about the Rainbow Dragons, their world and the stupid door to it. So far he had only succeeded in recognize several emblems of old families in the book. He supposed that members of those families had been bonded to the Rainbow Dragons.

Some of the crests he recognized were of pure-blooded families, but there were many of blood-traitors ones. The "impure" lines, as his father called them. Apparently blood purity was not that important to the Dragons. There was the occasional crest of some lost family line and others that had changed upon the years, he even found crests from other countries families. Draco only recognized those because his mother had insisted in him memorizing every original emblem of the most prominent and influential families, saying that it would help him in the social and political life.

Draco had been pleased to find the Malfoy crest in the book, though he was presently at odds with his father's choices in life, he was glad to see that he had came from two strong family lines. It certainly helped his wounded pride.

But still he continued to know nothing about how to deal with the bond. He laid on his bed trying to find a solution. The Potter's, the Longbottom's and the Weasley's crests had been in the book, Sally had not found any trace of a bond in any of the members of said families so far, but maybe the relatives would have some knowledge, even without an actual bond. Sally was adamantly against that idea, her instinct told her that no one should know about her existence, only those bonded to another dragon could know.

Then there was Mad eye.

Draco thought about that. Moody had been the only adult with the magical signature of a bond, but the man had not been seen since Harry's birthday party and frankly Draco didn't like him, the ex-auror gave him the creeps. Besides that, what if the man was the traitor? Sally never met the wizards bonded to her parents, so she wouldn't know if Moody was the one that had betrayed them, and the same could be said about every other wizard or witch with a bond.

Draco groaned, how was he supposed to know who to trust? He and Sally needed help and he didn't have the slightest idea of where to look for it!

The blond sighed and rubbed his temples. He felt tired and a bit thirsty. He supposed that a glass of water would be good. Draco thought briefly about calling for one of the elves, but he wanted to refresh his mind, so he quietly got on his feet and out of the room.

He walked down the hallway and noticed that the door to the drawing room was opened. Malfoy wondered if Potter was still awake and reading old newspapers or researching dark spells. The blond knew that the Gryffindors were looking for something but didn't know what it was. He stopped out of the drawing room, noticing that there was light coming from the library.

He considered to go and offer his help if Potter was reading alone, he was curious to see if he could convince the Gryffindor to share his little secret. The Slytherin smirked as he felt Sally encouraging him to go find the black-haired boy. It amused him that Potter had managed to impress Sally so much, she was almost as obsessed with the golden-boy as he was. He just hoped that the precarious friendship that they had started had the chance to grow stronger. The blond really wanted to get to know Harry, even if his crush with the boy was hopeless, he'll content himself with only friendship.

Draco approached the library silently, he had expected to see Harry sitting on an armchair, but he couldn't see anyone. Soon he distinguished voices coming from behind a couch. His heart sank upon realizing that Potter was not alone. The blond hesitated, thinking that maybe it was best to go unnoticed, but his curiosity got the better of him and he continued his advance, straining his ears to listen what was being said.

"… must go check it."

"How about tomorrow? It will be a full moon, and professor Lupin is going to be locked down in the cellar. Tonks will be at the ministry all night and we can put a silence charm around Malfoy's bedroom and no one will notice we're gone."

"Yeah, it's not far, we should be back the next morning."

"But Harry, shouldn't we tell someone where are we going?"

"Hermione, we have already discussed this. They'd ask too many questions and they'd insist in someone accompanying us. I'm not going to tell them what this is about. Dumbledore said I should go about it carefully, if somehow Voldemort takes notice of what we are doing, our job will be more difficult."

Draco narrowed his eyes. What was the trio planning? And wait. Someone mentioned the full moon?

"I suppose you're right. But would it be ok to leave Malfoy alone in the manor? Remus won't be in any condition to watch over him."

What? Not bloody likely! They were not going to abandon him in the same house with a werewolf in a full moon night! Not even if said creature was going to be confined in the cellar with binding spells and behind heavy wards! He would not stand for it!

"Malfoy will be fine. He won't even notice that we're gone." Said Harry's nervous voice.

"Yeah, and we can put locking charms in his room, just to prevent him from wandering out in the night." That was Weasley's voice.

Well, that was the last drop! Malfoy was going to give the so called golden trio a piece of his mind! He was about to charge into the library when he felt the vibration of a spell surrounding him. It was so odd that he stood frozen in the spot for a second, trying to process what it was, and almost missed Moody's presence at his back.

"What the…?"

"Leave them be Malfoy. They need to occupy their minds on something or they would start worrying and insisting on leading attacks themselves."

Draco turned around slowly and shifted uncomfortably under Moody's eyes.

"So, you know what are they looking for?"

"Aye. It keeps them occupied and away from the main conflict."

"But, isn't it dangerous?"

"Ha. Of course it's dangerous, but they are well prepared for it. It's an important task and someone had to do it anyway. Besides, we'll be watching them closely, making sure that they stay alive."

Draco assumed that Moody was referring to the Order when he said 'we' and sighed, turning to look in the general direction of the couches again. If Potter knew he was being watched and purposely kept aside from the mayor events of the war by his little project he wouldn't be very happy. Moody chuckled strangely and continued talking.

"I personally would have preferred someone more experienced to do the task, so it could be finished faster, but it was difficult to find another way to convince Mr. Potter to stay hidden and away from trouble. At least he's too busy to go hunting You-know-who down."

Mad eye turned away and started walking down the hall, Draco followed.

"Why would he do something as stupid as that? I know he's a Gryffindor, but there has to be some limit to reckless courage."

"Ha. Not when the boy's convinced that he's the only one that can stop that maniac."

"What?"

They were now at Draco's door and Alastor stopped to face him. The bubble of the silence spell was still around them both.

"There's a prophesy. One that not necessarily has to be fulfilled, but You-Know-Who is convinced of its truthfulness. A bit idiotic if you ask me. Whoever thinks that the future is a certain thing?"

"So… this prophesy says something about Potter been able to defeat the Dark Lord?"

"He or Longbottom. You pick one."

Malfoy's mouth twitched slightly. His first thought was: _'We're all doomed.'_ Then he remembered all the past years at Hogwarts and how time after time the Dark Lord had tried to rid himself of Potter without success.

"Mph. I think that the Dark Lord has already picked."

"Indeed." Moody grinned and Draco started to feel a bit nervous. "But that's not of our concern. While they're gone tomorrow we can occupy our time discussing a few things if you like."

Draco bit his lip, not sure if he wanted to ask Mad eye about Rainbow Dragons. Inside him, Sally was insisting that he asked about the man's dragon, she was anxious to know if there was more of her kind around. Draco didn't want to pressure things with the ex-auror, not until he was sure of the man's intentions. It was better to keep his guard up.

"What would you want to discuss with me?"

Moody gave him a toothy smile, which did nothing to ease the boy's fears.

"Your dragon has awakened recently. I can feel it inside you now. Such power. It has been a while."

Draco paled slightly and started to occlude.

"How could you…?"

"Ah, when you have a bond, you can sense others that have it too. You can only hide your dragon from other people, those who don't know about the Rainbow Dragons' existence or think them a myth."

"Oh."

Draco considered what to tell Moody. He didn't want to mess things up. He couldn't afford to be talking to a traitor. Alastor looked at him thoughtfully for an instant.

"There's a book that should be in the library or another room in this house. A special book."

"One that only I can read? I have seen it."

"It would be a good idea to read it young man."

Malfoy made a frustrated gesture.

"It'll be a lot easier if I knew the language it's written in!"

Moody scowled and then grinned in comprehension.

"Ah, figures that the Blacks would have one of the few books in the ancient languages instead of one of the English copies!"

Draco gaped and then muttered some foul words about self-righteous old families that didn't think about getting important written material in their own language. Mad eye looked amused at his frustration, but then he turned around and started to walk away.

"We'll have to work on that tomorrow. Don't tell anyone that I was here."

The boy watched the man go and felt the silence spell been lifted. For a second he didn't know what to do. Sally was asking why the man hadn't stayed to talk more and Draco had to explain to her that Moody didn't want to risk being overheard by the rest of the inhabitants of the house. Sally was a little upset by that. The blond sighed and entered to his room again, trying to reassure his dragon that they would have a long talk with Moody the following night.

* * *

"I'm not sure this is a good idea Ginny. Harry's still upset with you."

Ron and his sister were walking along the hallway to the training room. Ginny wasn't supposed to train with them, but she pleaded with Ron to accompany him, saying that Moody wasn't going to be present and she wanted to see how well they were doing. Ron had accepted only to make her stop pestering him, but he was starting to have second thoughts about it. Harry needed some more time to forget what Ginny had done on his birthday.

"I have already apologized to him a thousand times yesterday Ron! I understand that he felt upset because of what happened to his family and I really wasn't thinking about that. And I'm sorry. I want to show him that I meant him no harm I only wanted to protect him! And I need to be by his side, he's not going to avoid me anymore! I'm going to show him that I'll be right there when he needs me. I'm going to give him my full support on this war!"

Ron sighed in defeat. Ginny was stubborn, and after all, she only wanted to be with Harry. Ron didn't understand why the two of them weren't together if they were in love. Sure, Harry had told them that it was to protect Ginny, but Ron couldn't understand the lack of communication between the two. They needed to spend more time together, even as friends, that way they both could show their love to each other and Ginny would still be safe. He decided to talk with Harry about that.

They entered the training room just when Harry was driving Malfoy to the floor and immobilizing him, holding an arm against the blonde's back.

"Ow! Holy shit Potter! Get off me!"

"Get a grip Malfoy. You're distracted! What's the matter?"

"I'm not distracted you asshole! I'm crap at muggle fighting and you bloody well know it!"

"Language Malfoy, language." Harry admonished playfully, Draco was not amused.

"Fuck the language!"

"Oi, hello guys, we're here!" Said Ron cheerfully.

Hermione smiled at her boyfriend from her spot at a far corner of the room, where she had been previously watching the boys spare. Her eyes widened slightly when she spotted Ginny and turned to see Harry nervously. The black haired boy had turned to the door grinning upon hearing his friend's voice, but it faltered at Ron's sister.

"Ginny. What are you doing here?"

"Well, I thought that maybe I could make you company today. Moody's not here after all and I wanted to see the training."

Harry transferred his glare to Ron, who looked apologetic.

"Mmm… She only wants to watch? She's gonna behave Harry."

Quite frankly, the red-head thought that his friend was overreacting a little. True, Ginny had been tactless and had said some very bad things, but she was sorry. And Harry sure understood that Ginny was young and a bit thoughtless and must forgive her for a little mishap; after all they loved each other. Right?

Harry looked from Ginny to Malfoy. The blond was looking away from them, busying himself with a scar on his elbow. Harry turned to Ginny again.

"Fine, if you apologize for your behaviour on my birthday."

Ginny gaped at him.

"Harry, I already apologized to you yesterday…"

"Not to me Ginny. I think that you owe Malfoy an apologize too."

Draco straightened his head at once and looked wide eyed at Harry. Ginny was appalled.

"What? Harry I…"

"I don't need her apologizes Potter." The blond interrupted. Harry sighed and turned to look at him.

"Why not Malfoy?"

"One. I don't think that she's sorry in the last. And two. I don't need it and certainly don't want it!"

Harry bit his lip, not quite knowing what to do. Ginny lifted her chin in defiance at the blond.

"Well, I suppose you don't mind if I stay here with my boyfriend."

"Ginny, I'm not…"

"Why would I give a damn where you stay? You can ogle at him all you want." Draco hissed at the red-headed girl, privately fuming about the injustice of her been able to call Harry her boyfriend.

"I'm not…"

"Good. You see Harry? You don't need to worry about Malfoy."

"I'm not your boyfriend!"

Everyone stared at Harry, who seemed intent on making that particular point clear. Ginny pressed her lips together and said in an annoyed tone.

"Not yet officially, I know, but once this war is over we…"

"Let's leave it at that for now Ginny. We are only friends."

Ginny wanted to protest but Hermione dragged her to one corner of the room, telling her to be patient. Harry looked quizzically in Malfoy's direction, but the Slytherin had turned around and was doing his best to ignore the rest of them. Ron looked confused and a bit annoyed, but thought that Harry probably didn't want to accept his feelings for Ginny in front of Malfoy; after all they still didn't completely trust the blond. The red-head accepted his own reasoning and glared at Malfoy's back for good measure before going to reassure his sister.

The training session was a bit tense, but they managed to loosen up by the end of it. Once they were finished, Harry hurriedly escaped before Ginny could get a hold of him and Malfoy disappeared in his room, not having any desire to get in the middle of whatever was going on between the Gryffindors. Hermione finally convinced Ginny to give Harry his space and not to pressure him. The Weasley girl left for her home unsatisfied, but promised to return the next day to see if her Harry was in a better mood.

* * *

The rest of the day passed by quietly. Remus arrived before sunset and Harry quickly led him to the cellar, which looked more like a dungeon, and closed the door after making sure that Lupin had taken the wolfsbane potion that Moody had acquired for him. He put on the wards that would make impossible for anyone to enter that part of the house and returned to the kitchen to have dinner with the rest of the guys.

Malfoy was a bit nervous and Harry thought that it was because Lupin was staying. He tried to calm the blond, assuring him that it was safe and that Remus was not going to cause any harm. The Slytherin just looked at him incredulously.

"Potter, you realize that the man is a werewolf, right?"

"He's a good man Malfoy. And he's not going to get out of the cellar, it's well warded. Besides, he has taken the wolfsbane; the human in him is going to be conscious. There's nothing to worry about."

"Easy for you to say. You…" Malfoy bit his lip. He was just about to give into the temptation and accuse the other boy of been planning to leave with his two sidekicks. But if the others realized that he had spied them, they'd want to know how much he had heard and they may decide to lock him in his bedroom and not let him out anymore. "You apparently have a preference to associate with unpalatable individuals."

Harry rolled his eyes at him.

"If it makes you feel better I'll ward your room. Ok?"

"I really will feel much better if I had my wand with me."

Harry looked like he was actually considering the idea, but Ron intervened at that moment.

"Not bloody likely Malfoy! We barely trust you without a wand. We're not about to give you a weapon. Besides, your wand is lost. I really doubt you would see it again."

Malfoy glared at the red-head and resumed his dinner unhappily. Harry sighed and tried again to reassure the blond.

"The hall is going to be warded and I'll give you a dreamless sleep potion if you want."

"I'll pass on the potion. I prefer to be able to wake up in case I have to run like hell."

Ron chuckled at the idea and Hermione rolled her eyes. They finished dinner quickly and then Harry accompanied a still nervous Malfoy to his room. Once the blond closed his door, the Gryffindor magically warded and enchanted it with a silence spell; he then headed to the library to join his two friends.

"I don't think he'd want to get out of the room all night. I hope the silencing spell would be enough for him not to wake up."

"We should have slipped the dreamless potion in his tea." Said Ron. Harry frowned at him.

"No, I don't want him paranoid from now on. I want him to trust us."

"Why would you want that? I don't understand."

"Look, it's already hard for him to be locked in here. I want him to feel at least more comfortable, this way we are getting along fairly well and had avoided extra tension."

Ron shrugged and started to walk towards the corridor.

"Whatever you say mate. I'm going for our cloaks."

Harry picked up the parchment with the map and notes they had prepared for their little adventure and studied them a last time. He didn't notice Hermione looking intently at him until she spoke.

"Why are you so concerned about Malfoy's well being?"

Harry turned to look at her and shrugged.

"I just don't want him to feel like he's a prisoner. We're supposed to be helping him."

"Yes, but why?"

Harry looked confused and Hermione elaborated.

"I understand that you feel the need to fulfil Dumbledore's wishes, that you pity Malfoy for his mother's situation, and maybe you're still feeling a bit guilty for having attacked him with the sectum sempra, but you're doing enough by letting him stay here. You don't have to… worry so much about him."

Harry was flabbergasted.

"I know… I… I'm not worrying too much! Well, maybe I feel it's my responsibility to worry about him. I want to show him that he's free to do whatever he wants and that he doesn't need to follow his father's footsteps. I want him to trust me."

Hermione bit her lip worriedly.

"Harry, you are aware that we really don't know why he ended up here? He's tolerating us because he wants to live but that doesn't mean that he really wants to change. He's still Malfoy."

"He's already changed 'Mione."

The girl narrowed her eyes at him and Harry felt the need to explain.

"I don't know how to explain it; it's only that he feels different… somehow he has changed… he's not the same."

Harry looked at his friend, willing her to understand. Hermione sighed in defeat after a while.

"Well, he has not apologized or anything like that, but I suppose that he's trying not to be nasty. I'll give him that much."

Harry smiled at her. Ron returned at that moment and the three got ready for the excursion ahead.

* * *

Malfoy laid awake on his bed, still fully clothed and entertaining himself feeling the many changes in the magic of the house. He was still amazed at the intensity of the energy in the place. He could now distinguish an ominous and heavy feeling in the house, marking it as a dark place, but not less powerful because of it. Draco had wondered if Malfoy manor would feel any different. It was not as old as the Black's manor, but it had been inhabited by powerful wizards, so its magic should be pretty strong too.

Draco closed his eyes and focused on the waves of energy emanating from the walls, and tried to picture the entire house in his mind. He could feel clearly the heavy wards at his door and other wards in the lowest level of the manor. That should be where the werewolf was. There were also wards surrounding the whole property, Malfoy suddenly felt the magic of those wards shifting, as if making an opening, after a few seconds the energy reassembled itself and the wards were the same as before. Draco supposed that the trio must be gone.

The boy tuned off his perception of the house as much as he could and started worrying about his meeting with Mad eye. He didn't have to wait long, a few moments later he felt the magic been disrupted again and he stood up gingerly. A minute or so later, the wards at his door were lifted and Moody entered.

"Good defence here. Obviously no one wanted the werewolf to be wandering around. Come on kid. We're going to have a walk."

Draco followed the man warily, flinching slightly at the noises coming from the cellar. They arrived at the kitchen and Moody lost no time to walk to the shelf that concealed the mysterious secret door and get it out of the way. The boy was shocked to see the wall disappearing at Mad eye's touch.

"How…?"

"It's enchanted to recognize our energy. Only the bonded ones are able to open it."

Draco looked cautiously at the opening. He could see stairs leading down into a dark space.

"Where exactly are we going?"

"We're taking the fastest route to the chamber. I'm sure you had already been there, unless Potter had caught up to you before you could reach the portal."

Malfoy's mouth moved for a second without sound. He couldn't believe it.

"The… chamber…"

Moody raised an eyebrow at him, obviously not seeing what the problem was. Draco remembered the corridor and his curiosity to know where it came from, since the tunnel he had discovered practically interrupted it.

"You mean that… all I had to do was come here and… and touch the damned wall?"

"If you had entered this way, yes."

Draco could feel the anger rising in him.

"Then why the bloody hell I had to dig a hole in the goddamned garden?"

Moody now looked amused.

"I don't know, frankly I was kind of surprised that you chose to do that."

"I didn't choose it! I kind of felt compelled to do it! While in all the times I slept-walked over here I never felt the **need** to **touch** the wall!"

Alastor actually chuckled at that bit of news.

"It must have to do with where you spent more time. Or maybe the magic was just stronger in the garden, after all no one had visited it since Mrs. Black died."

Draco was really offended and crossed his arms in annoyance. Moody started to climb down the stairs, still chuckling. The boy followed unhappily, mumbling foul words about stupid houses sending the wrong signals, and stupid house-elves that didn't inform him of easiest ways to do things.

* * *

They arrived to the chamber quickly and Draco completely forgot his complains in favour to be shocked about the incredible amount of magic that struck him when he stepped through the portal. The place reeked of power. Malfoy closed his eyes and felt the ancient magic run through him, acknowledging and accepting him. He felt Sally responding to it. She was happy. This was home. Draco opened his eyes again and looked around him. The place essentially hadn't changed at all since the last time he had been there, but now he could see the columns shinning with a million colours and several shades of light danced before his eyes. It was beautiful.

He was so absorbed in the joy and relief the place inspired into him, that he didn't notice that they had company. He never looked the dark figure approaching until he heard a familiar voice.

"About time Moody! I was starting to think that you had gotten lost!"

Draco froze. Panic and fear took hold of his mind and he didn't hear Alastor's dry reply to their new companion. It was not possible. This man couldn't be here! The boy slowly turned around to face two black hard orbs, which looked down to him with the same severity as always.

"Professor Snape."

"Draco."

Malfoy wanted to run and hide. Why was Snape here? Was this all a trap? A tall woman with long brown hair and dark eyes was standing beside the potions master. She smiled to him and offered her hand.

"Come boy. We have much to talk about."

Sally liked the woman. She urged Draco to talk with this people, assuring him that they meant no harm, though how in hell the dragon could possible know that, was a mystery to the boy. Draco gulped and took the offered hand, praying to the gods that he was not about to be returned to the Dark Lord.


	8. A bit of history

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Authors note:** I'm sorry, I know it had been a long while, but I have a demanding job that gives little time to write, ad the fact that this had been a particularly difficult chapter and I was not totally convinced that it has gone the right way. A friend of mine, Marina, betae'd the first part of it and gave me encourage, so I'm posting it at last.

**Chapter 07.** **A bit of history.**

Once he was assured that the place had nothing to do with the Dark Lord or his cause, Draco relaxed a bit, and was free to feel relieved that Snape was all right. Still, he couldn't phantom why the man was there when he was supposed to be on hiding because of Dumbledore's murder. Moody seemed not to care, and that was highly suspicious in Draco's opinion. The woman called Salamanca explained that Albus Dumbledore had been one of them and that his death had been something he had wanted to happen. Draco felt a bit upset about that, but he hadn't time to dwell in his thoughts because Salamanca started to tell him about the dragons.

The Rainbow Dragons had been the first magical creatures to ever exist on Earth; some wise wizards had even said that they were magic itself, as their power was immense and wonderful. It was said that the first dragons had the Earth all to themselves for millions of years. The levels of wild magic those times had been incommensurable and soon other beings, magical and non-magical, had begun to exist.

It seemed that the Dragons' presence attracted magic. Wherever they went, the magic became unstable and started to accumulate, the effect was even stronger on their breeding and birth season. As a result of those phenomena, new magical creatures appeared on the area that the Dragons had chosen to stay by the moment, but when the numbers of Rainbow Dragons increased by a certain point, the amount of magic suddenly reached incredible heights, becoming too much for any living creature to tolerate, and disasters started to happen.

Over the millennia, mayor catastrophes started to become more frequent. Eventually man appeared into the equation and it was not long after that the first wizards came to be. They realized the magnitude of power the Rainbow Dragons possessed and the mythical beasts were revered as gods by some. However, many started to hunt the Dragons, searching for the source of their power to increase theirs; others feared them and simply wanted to annihilate the fearsome creatures before they were destroyed by them. Centuries passed before someone understood the relation between the Rainbow Dragons and the levels of magic around certain areas, by then the wild magic had already caused severe damage to entire civilizations and it was clear that, in time, the potential damage could be much much worse.

Looking for a solution, some wizards decided to confront the Dragons, thinking that there should be a way of coexisting and keep the magic somewhat stabilized. It was not hard to find the Rainbow Dragons, and the wizards were surprised to see that the creatures had no problems understanding the human language and were actually willing to hear what they had to say before attacking them. The Dragons had been quick in understanding the wizards' fears, long ago had they understood that the rest of the living creatures on the planet could not keep up with the constant drastic changes of magic that their presence brought, but it was something they could not control, they were very much aware that eventually their magic would slaughter all form of life and could even destroy the Earth itself.

They had been ready to leave. Without them, the magic will slowly waste away, the magical creatures will stop breeding and in time the whole planet would be devoid of them. The magic levels will be so low that no one would be able to do anything useful with it, and the planet will be completely safe from self-destruction.

It was a logical course of action for the Dragons, they would have no difficulty in leaving, they could make their own realm if they so wanted, their magic allowed it. But they were reluctant, they didn't actually want to leave, they loved Earth. The planet had something that just felt ideal to them. They had inhabited it for millions of years and were fairly sure that they couldn't breed in any other place, not even one of their own making, but they would never condemn their home to devastation. It was better that they left; they were only waiting until the very last minute to do it. After all, it was not easy to condemn your entire species to extinction, even if it was for the safety of an entire planet.

The wizards didn't like at all the idea of the magic disappearing. The image of a world without magic was simply horrible to them, but both species were forced to acknowledge the fact that if the Earth was to be eventually destroyed, they were all damned with her.

And so, they planned a solution. The Rainbow Dragons would have to leave, but it was possible that they had a way to return whenever they liked, they would breed in their beloved Earth and keep magic from disappearing. The Dragons created their own realm, but to be able, for the connection between both worlds, to remain open they needed something that 'guided' them in the way back, something of themselves had to remain on Earth, so the magic could recognize it.

They performed a bonding ritual with the wizards, powerful ancient magic that allowed them to mix their blood with that of the humans, allowing the gate between both realms to remain open. As long as their blood was running freely through the wizards' veins they would always be able to find the way back home. The bond that was established enhanced the wizards' magic and granted them power beyond their imaginations. Some said that it was around that time that the wizarding world began to cut itself from the muggle world, carefully hiding away the reason for such a drastic change in their power and fearful of muggles finding out just how powerful the magical creatures were.

The pact remained, but not all wizards could have a bond. The ancient magic was too strong for just anyone to handle. The Dragons always followed the scent of their own blood, knowing that the wizards that had it were the descendants of those who first shared their powers and, therefore, able to take the strain that the bonding demanded. That was why a Rainbow Dragon only chose the most powerful wizards to bond with and said bond was established when the wizard's magic reached its full potential, which usually occurred when the wizard was around seventeen or eighteen years old. There was also the fact that only wizards with dragon blood could survive the bond.

As generations passed by and the wizarding population increased, the knowledge of the Rainbow Dragons was restricted to the descendants of the original families and soon even that knowledge became partial, a family secret that never was spoken of with outsiders. Only the ones bonded knew the whole truth. The chamber that originally was the "physical" location of the portal became a gathering spot. While in there, the wizards were under an oath to forget any animosity from the real world and be only comrades. It was a haven to just relax and enjoy the magic around them.

In time, the families that had vestiges of the Dragon blood in them started to forget the true intention of the bond. The majority of them thought that the Rainbow Dragons were a myth; others thought them as some kind of powerful familiar. That misconception was partially to blame for the mess they were now all deep into.

Salamanca and the other two men grew sombre when they continued their explanation. There were some families that craved power and wanted to use the Dragon's magic for their own purposes. That in itself wasn't something new, such people had always existed, in every age there was some power-starved maniac that wouldn't hesitate to use any means to achieve his wishes. But that was not a real problem, even when such people were powerful enough and had dragon blood in their veins, the moment the bond was established they were unwilling to share the knowledge with anyone. Their power increased as they wanted and they saw no need to reveal to others the reason for it.

They also soon understood that the Dragon bonded to them was not a mere familiar; neither would the creature follow their commands. The terms of the bond were very clear to the Dragons: the wizards gained power and the Dragons continued breeding, the mutual benefit was that the magical world continued existing. The Rainbow Dragon always made sure that the wizard bonded to it knew with perfect clarity that the creature would not fight for him. The social and political affairs of the wizarding world were things that the Dragons didn't care of, and they were not to be dragged into the human's meaningless wars. Of course you could develop friendship with your boded Dragon and it would even protect you of danger, if the feeling was strong enough, but for a Rainbow Dragon to actively aid someone to gain political power, was unheard and uncalled for.

Never before had been a traitor. It had been such an impossible notion that the event took everyone by surprise. The traitor's family had been one of those that believed in the supremacy of wizards over all living beings. Taught from birth to see all creatures as mere things; all magic as a weapon to obtain power and prestige. The bond had been established, as the witch in question had covered the two unavoidable requirements to it. Dragon blood in her veins and enough power to sustain the bond. She had entered the chamber with contempt, as if she owned the very place. No one had been especially concerned. There had been others like this witch. They never had gotten to really know their Dragon well enough and had caused all kind of problems in the wizarding society; but there were others bonded that will fight them and history will keep on going.

They, the bonded ones, had believed that this witch would be no different. She would use her new acquired power to cause mischief and aid her master in his ambitions. There already were others that followed the same master and were happy to impress him with their many skills. She obviously would do the same and even with more joy and enthusiasm. No one had ever expected her to go and reveal everything to said master!

The Dark Lord was not a bonded one. No one had known why there hadn't been a Dragon that chose him; he certainly had power and, according to his own propaganda, was the Slytherin heir, therefore he should have dragon blood in his veins. Whatever the reason, the truth was that no Rainbow Dragon had chosen him, he was not entitled to know the secrets of the bonded ones, and he certainly could not have the Dragon's power.

Voldemort of course, having had no previous knowledge that such power existed, was happy to find out that one of his faithful followers had the key to it, or so he thought. He wanted it for himself and demanded to have it.

The first warning they had was when they all felt a Dragon dying. That in itself was a very rare thing. The Rainbow Dragons commonly died at an extremely old age and at their own realm, for the wizards to have felt that particular dead meant that the Dragon in question was on Earth at the time. Besides, it had been birth season. The wizards had been confused, and it worsened when they felt the gate between worlds suddenly closing. Alarmed, they all had tried to make contact with their respective Dragons, only to find their bonds muted. The Dragons were not answering, they could feel hurt and betrayal through the dampened bond, but had no idea of what was happening. The chamber had been sealed and there was no way to contact the Dragons that were in their own realm. Then they started to feel more deaths.

Some of them had contacted each others, in an attempt to discover what was happening. Dumbledore's Dragon had contacted the wizard instants before dying, talking about a traitor and hunters. It had been chaos then. They clearly needed to find out that traitor before it was too late. But without a clear clue to where to look for, they only started to fight and accuse each other. All the while the slaughter continued and soon some of them started to die too.

It had been the Death Eaters the ones to find the traitor. It was at one of the reunions with the Dark Lord when she crowed about how she was the one to help their master to obtain power. A power so great that the whole world would soon fell at the Dark Lord's feet. She relinquished in the fact that she was their Lord's most faithful follower. Soon, those Death Eaters that were bonded realised that she had been the one to betray them. She was aiding the Dark Lord, giving him information that allowed him to hunt and kill the Dragons trapped in this realm. Not only that, but she had already told their Lord many names, names of the wizards bonded.

One of them cursed her then, making her unable to spill more information, but it was already too late; the damage was done though they didn't really know the extension of it. The Dark Lord already knew that some of his Death Eaters had a bond; fortunately the traitor had not had the chance to tell him every bonded name. The ones that were discovered disappeared immediately, going into hiding, the others stayed, hoping to find out their Lord's plans and how to revert them. They couldn't obliviate him, with their bonds muted they had not enough power to fight against him, but they still could gather information.

Unfortunately, by then the Dragon's trapped on Earth had been almost exterminated. There only remained one. The wizards had almost succumbed to desperation when they felt that one Dragon dying. But there had been hope. Almost at the same time that the last Dragon's magical signature disappeared they had felt something, ancient magic being called to a rite. They felt something like a bond being created, different from what they were used to, they were certain that there was a young Dragon involved and another being. The magical signature of said being was so weak and diffused, almost non existent. The wizards had been genuinely confused. A second later, the magic of the dying Dragon seemed to erupt and cover the new "bond", effectively hiding it from the wizards' senses, and then disappeared.

From the Death Eaters that had stayed behind in their Lord's service, they learned that the last Dragon had had a dragonling and that it was the cub that Lord Voldemort had wanted. Apparently the mother had been successful in escaping the hunters that had been chasing her, the Dark Lord was furious because they had gotten away and was searching for the dragonling.

They had started searching too. Based in what they had felt, they had concluded that the last Dragon had hidden its offspring through a bond; the recipient had to be a child, a baby, for the magical signature to be so weak, maybe even a still un-born child. The bonded Death Eaters, now turned into spies and no longer loyal to Voldemort, managed to discover the ritual used to block the gate and started to look out for ways to open it again. They eventually found a way to do it, but they needed the last remaining Dragon.

After the Dark Lord's first defeat, they had felt more at ease. They hadn't killed the traitor because they'd need to explain the situation to the Rainbow Dragons. The woman had been sent to Azkaban and they had spent months obliviating the Death Eaters that had known about their master's plans concerning Dragons. However, they were unable to find the baby Dragon and its bonded one. The mother had done a pretty good job of hiding any trace of her dragonling's magic. There had been nothing to do but wait until the protection of the mother failed and the bond could be sensed again. And hope that, by then, the bonded one would be able to fulfil the requirements to destroy the seal between worlds.

They had hoped for the Dark Lord to not return so soon. They would have preferred to have the problem sorted out by then, but it was not to be. So now they'd have to be especially careful, even if the traitor could not pass more information to her master, she had already told him enough to allow him to cause more damage. He-who-must-not-be-named already knew that there was only one Dragon remaining in this realm. He wanted it and would not stop until he found it.

Draco was dumbstruck by the time the narration came to an end. It was a lot of information to take. The only thing that was really clear to him at the moment was that the Dark Lord wanted Sally. Thank the gods he didn't know where to find her yet, but that could change at any moment. A fierce wave of protectiveness went through him. Sally was his! No one was going to take her from him! He had to protect Sally and in order to do it, the Dark Lord had to be vanquished and the gate to the Dragon's realm reopened. The order to do those things didn't matter much at the time. Obviously, the Dark Lord had ensured that the seal on the gate could only be broken by a very special ritual that involved specific conditions, no doubt hard to attain. Draco asked what had to be done.

They told him.

Draco felt all colour draining from his face and was shocked into silence for a few seconds before exploding.

"WHAT?"

"Draco…" Severus started. He knew the boy would make a drama over the situation. Malfoy didn't let him continue. The young man stood sharply and started pacing back and forth in desperation.

"But that's impossible! I… I can't physically do that! What're we gonna do? And why it has to be me? Are you sure it absolutely has to be me?"

"The ritual specifies someone that has an active bond. You're the only one of us that has it. Everybody else is blocked."

"But I-I can't do that!"

"You have to Draco Malfoy! There is no other way!"

"But I can't Severus! I'm a man! There's no possible way for me to get pregnant!"

Severus sneered in annoyance at the boy.

"There should be a book in that mansion…"

"It's in the ancient language." Moody supplied helpfully before the potions master could finish. Severus' lips thinned.

"Figures. Blasted Blacks."

"What difference would that do Severus?" Said Draco, already beyond panicking.

"If you had read the book, young man, you'll know that many wizards had been capable to carry a child, thanks to their Dragons."

Draco stopped in his pacing and stared wide eyed at his ex-professor.

"What?"

"Your Dragon can make it possible. If your magic is strong enough to aid. You only have to ask for his help and your body will start to change."

"Her."

"Pardon?"

"My Dragon is a she." Draco clarified. He was shocked by the news and was trying to think coherently.

"Whatever. The point is that your gender is not a problem. And it would be best to start the process as soon as possible."

Draco bit his lip, trying to get a reasonable though out of his brain. He felt as if he didn't comprehend what they wanted of him.

"Why do I have to get pregnant? Why can't I find a nice girl who…?"

"It's an unavoidable condition for the ritual to be effective, that someone with an active bond is delivering at the moment. We have researched all kind of ways to destroy the seal the Dark Lord created and that ritual is the only one that would likely succeed."

"Likely?"

"Yes, there's also the requirement that the new born should have potential to be chosen by a Dragon. The ancient magic requires it. If that fails, the door between worlds would remain sealed."

Draco fell on the couch again. He was scared. He didn't want to do it. Forget the part that he was too young to have children. Hell, forget the part that, since he had known he was gay; he had been sure that children would have to come from another source other than sex! He most certainly never expected he could get pregnant! Pregnancy was something that happened to girls, not boys! He wasn't prepared to do it!

He felt Sally humming inside his mind and a comforting sensation filled him. He had the impression that she was hugging him. Merlin, he couldn't believe that this was happening to him. But he couldn't let Sally die. He'll do anything to keep her safe.

"So… these change… I'm like transforming into a girl or something?"

"Well, not into a girl!" Salamanca started to explain to him happily. "Your external appearance won't change a bit, the magic will give you the necessary equipment for you to conceive and carry a child to term. It would essentially make you a Hermaphrodite."

Draco felt a bit ill at the notion.

"It… it would be permanent?"

"Oh, no. It would be only until the child is born. The process requires too much energy form you. Usually a wizard can only do it once in his life, unless he has a willing partner that borrows him energy to do it again."

Draco was clenching his hands in nervousness. Fearing to ask more questions, but he needed to know.

"Do I at least get to choose the other father?"

The uncomfortable silence that followed his question was all the answer he needed.

"Who?"

Salamanca smiled reassuringly at him.

"Well, your Dragon has to tell us that. You see, it has to be someone powerful for the chances of his offspring to be bonded increase. Of course, even the most powerful wizard alive could produce a squib. Especially since the magic had been decreasing these years, but we think that your Dragon's mother did something to ensure that you both were safe. The residual magic of her protection would surely find a suitable partner for you."

Sally all but purred in Draco's mind. The image of one Harry Potter appeared and he gulped.

"I think she has decided."

"Yes?"

Draco looked up at his ex-professor nervously.

"I think she would like Potter."

No one seemed particularly surprised. Snape nodded somewhat resignedly, Moody looked smug and the woman smiled knowingly.

"Ah, it seems our guess was right. Fortunately he decided to stay in the house on his own." Said Salamanca.

"You… knew?"

"We weren't sure, but he was a likely candidate. He has after all a good amount of power. That was why we wanted you near him." Said Severus in an uncaring way. Draco couldn't believe his ears.

"That means that it was you the one who dropped me at Godric's Hollow? How did you know that Potter was going to be there?"

"Well, actually we had thought that it had been lucky that Potter had found you. But seeing that your Dragon has already chosen him…"

"Wait! Can't you explain this better?"

"Fine. When we ran away from Hogwarts, the mother Dragon's protection had been failing for a while already. The bond was not yet evident, but it was clear that you had the dragonling, so instead of taking you to Malfoy manor of to the Dark Lord I took you to a safe location. We were planning on dropping you in London, near the Order's headquarters. Moody was going to 'find' you and take you to the house. I took you out of the secret location one day and walked you to the portkey you were supposed to use. I had told you that I was sending you to Malfoy manor. The plan was that I'd obliviate you as a precaution, someone other than Alastor was bound to question you and we didn't want anyone to find out about the weird dreams you had been having, as well as my location. However, at the very moment that I cast the obliviate on you, you disappeared."

Draco made an incredulous face while Severus continued.

"Somehow it seems you apparated near Godric's Hollow and found Potter. We had thought that we had lost you and were extremely relieved when Moody informed us that Potter had taken you to the Black's manor. We had believed that it had been an extremely fortunate event. Now however, I'm inclined to think that your Dragon's magic had simply located Potter's and had taken you to him."

"Merlin…" Draco closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. It was too much information. He felt as if he couldn't think. Snape sat down beside the boy and put a hand on his shoulder as a supportive gesture.

"I know it's too much to take at once. You need to rest and sort out your thoughts. We're going to teach you how to manage your bond and the Dragon's magic. A bit of wandless magic can come in handy too. We'll sort out Potter later."

"But we don't have time Severus! The Dark Lord is looking for Sally!"

The potion's master lifted a brow in askance and Draco realized that they didn't know who Sally was.

"Sally is my Dragon." He said sheepishly. Both of Severus' eyebrows reached the man's hairline. "Well I was three and I had to name her!"

The woman giggled quietly and approached them.

"It's a lovely name dear. Don't you worry about Sally; as long as you stay at Grimmauld place you both will be safe. No one will be able to detect you there."

"But there's a war, and the Dark Lord…!"

"Forget about that Draco!" Said Snape in his 'no-nonsense' voice. "The Order will keep the Dark Lord occupied. You only have to focus on Potter."

Draco blushed fiercely. He really needed more time to assimilate that.

"Potter. But he doesn't like me. I mean… he has been nice and supportive but… I don't think he likes boys."

"Don't worry." Said Moody. "You only need a night with him and the Dragon magic would do the rest."

"And how am I supposed to manage that? I don't think Potter is the kind of person who goes around having a one night laid!" Draco screamed, frustrated and beyond embarrassed. This people seemed to think that it was an easy deal.

"Your Dragon will help you with that too. Believe me, it can make Potter lust for you. Like allure."

Draco bit his lip and wished for the floor to fall under him. He didn't like it. Potter was not a mere crush anymore. He had been trying to get to know the Gryffindor better and didn't want to damage the growing friendship that they had barely started. Salamanca eyed him knowingly and smiled.

"You have to go rest Draco. Moody will help you in the house and every three days Severus will be here to teach you the ancient magic. You can take your time with the Potter boy, but I suggest you start approaching him more directly. The allure your Dragon can provide can be as strong as a lust spell, but it works even better if the subject is willing."

Draco lowered his eyes and kept quiet while the woman said her goodbyes. They were practically telling him that he had to seduce Potter! Trick him into having a child with him. Draco couldn't help but think that it just sounded really wrong. The three adults didn't seem to care; they were addressing the issue as if it was a business to take care of. Well, maybe for them it was. Neither of them would have to be stuck with a baby when everything finished!

He stood on shaky legs and followed the two men out of the respective portal, walking along the underground corridor towards Grimmauld place. After a short while he started shooting questions that he wasn't sure he wanted answered right away.

"Severus. I understand that I'm the one who has to do something because Sally is the only Rainbow Dragon left. But why it has to be pregnancy?"

Snape sighed and promptly went into teacher mode. He knew that the boy needed some kind of reassurance that it was really the only thing that could be done.

"The power to give life to another being is an ancient one. It was highly revered when mankind was still young. The first idea of a God was highly intertwined with a female, because of the women's ability to give birth, therefore 'creating' new life. The act of giving birth requires a good amount of energy, both from the mother and the offspring alike. It's a highly significant moment when the newborn breathes for the first time, becoming an 'independent' form of life. Its essence no longer merged with that of its mother's. Many ancient rites used the wild magic involved in this act. It's very powerful magic, strong enough to compete with the most feared forms of dark magic because it's based in life itself."

"So, you're expecting it to be strong enough to break the seal?"

"Yes."

Draco bit his lip nervously and continued questioning.

"What about love? Many ancient rites refer to it as a powerful weapon too."

"Technically it is. And we considered a couple of rites that take that into account. It is believed that the conception of a child in an act of true love is the most powerful source of wild magic that you can find. Followed by the pure love of a mother to her child. However, those rites require true, unconditional love. How can you be certain that you have that with your partner? Even if you felt that you love a person that strongly, there is the question of that person feeling exactly the same. True love is a rare thing. Most couples care for each other, but never to the level required for the rites that use love to completely succeeds."

Draco sighed. He knew that it was no way out of it and that he'd have to get used to the idea, but he didn't like it. Specially the part that involved Potter and the inevitable end of a, so waited for, friendship.

They arrived to the kitchen and Moody called the house-elves. Both creatures appeared, eying Draco nervously.

"I trust that the other boys are still not home." Asked Moody. Kreacher answered.

"No sir. Only the werewolf."

Snape made a face of disgust.

"Lupin is here? That's a bit reckless."

"He's adequately restrained; besides, your potion facilitates things a lot."

Snape ignored the comment and turned to the elves.

"I expect that you both do what you can to help Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy to get together as soon as possible."

Dobby was immediately bouncing up and down in happiness, while Kreacher gave a long suffering sigh of resignation. Both elves promised to help if needed and were dismissed. Draco couldn't help feeling a bit sick.

"Tell me Severus. What would happen if the ritual doesn't work? What if my child doesn't have enough potential? Or if I have a squib? What then?"

Severus looked ill; his voice was exceedingly calm when he answered.

"Then we wait at least a year for you to recover and try again."

Draco trembled. He didn't like the perspective. Surprisingly Moody put a hand on his shoulder and tried to offer comfort.

"I'm sure that won't be the case. Both of you are strong enough. Any child of yours should be equally strong."

That 'should' in the sentence was what was bothering Draco immensely. There was always the possibility of failure, whatever small it was. He bit his lip nervously and tried to squash the thoughts in his brain. Suddenly another worry made itself present.

"Severus. Is my mother all right?"

The man's sombre expression relaxed a little.

"She's fine. I told her that you escaped and no one could find you. She's worried like hell but she'll survive."

Draco nodded in acceptance, immensely relieved that his mother was alive. He looked at the potions master with gratitude and the man nodded to him. Then Snape took out a wand from his robes. It was Draco's wand. The boy stared at it for a moment, then at his ex-professor.

"Erm… I'm not sure I could keep it here. It would be too tempting to hex someone. And how'll I explain it if the others discovered it?"

Snape smirked and tuck the wand away again. Draco sighed and turned to go upstairs to his room with Moody. At the kitchen door he paused again, another nagging question in his mind.

"Severus. Who was it?"

There was a pause in which Draco could feel Moody going deadly rigid and Snape's eyes darkened dangerously.

"Bellatrix."

Draco's eyes widened and opened his mouth. '_Aunt Bella.'_ It was only a second before he schooled his features into a grim expression. As if it wasn't shameful enough that his own father would be willing to be subservient to a maniac. Now this. He would never live out the shame of his family. Perhaps it was only fair that he was the one entitled to do something to make things better. Even if that something meant for him to be used in an ancient rite. He resumed his way to his room, with Moody in tow.

* * *

Draco laid awake on the bed, thinking. Of all the things he knew his family was capable of, this surpassed his standard of craziness. He had thought that his aunt Bella's adoration for the Dark Lord was a bit insane, but that had clearly been a misconception. Insanity was too mild a term to describe what Bellatrix suffered of. He couldn't believe that someone had been mad enough to betray a creature like Sally. Draco didn't understand it, why would you want to harm a magical beast that is boosting your own magic? And to murder a creature bonded to one self… That was… well unthinkable. And that was exactly why no one had been able to do anything until it had been too late.

Draco sighed and tried to stop thinking about his crazy and shameful relatives, to focus in the mess he was into thanks to them. His thoughts automatically drifted over to Harry Potter and he felt mortified. He could not believe that he had to get laid by Potter. Not that he disliked the idea. In fact, if he had to be honest, he had to accept that he would have chosen Potter himself if they had allowed him to. And that was the real problem. He liked Potter. The time he had spent in the house so far had made him wish that Potter liked him too. He had been putting his best effort to open up and know more about the Gryffindor, and at the same time letting others know about himself. He had felt truly happy to realize that Potter really wanted to know him, to be his friend.

Draco had always wanted a friend. Being an only child was a bit lonely; having to grow up in a family where displaying feelings was considered a weakness was not big help. Draco had always longed for some affection, his childhood friends like Pansy didn't visit the Malfoy manor much and his own mother restrained herself in front of his father. Malfoys were not free to show feelings. The blond had hoped to make friends in the school, but the Slytherins were not for showing emotions either. The majority preferred not to get too involved with anyone. It was safer that way. And Draco had been unable to gather enough courage to go and search for something out of his House. He had wanted to please his father and to do that he had had to act like a Malfoy.

It was not fair; this was supposed to be his chance! He had been doing fairly well considering the circumstances. Potter and he had been getting along just nicely. And now Draco would have to ruin it! Potter was not gay, Draco was certain of that; he was convinced that the only thing he could get out the black-haired boy was friendship. He had been perfectly content with that, maybe with time he would be able to peak Harry's curiosity a little, but he had clear that a relationship with the boy was something that won't happen.

Draco cursed. He could not deny that he wanted Potter, but would have preferred that the boy wanted him as well. He wanted Harry to like him, not only lust after him, he wanted feelings behind that. The blond knew that it was impossible, and that meant that he had to trick Harry in order to get him to have sex with him, to have a child with him. That was just so wrong. Malfoy now knew the Gryffindor enough to be certain that family was almost a sacred thing for him. Surely the boy hoped to find a nice girl to marry her and have children with her and a happy, normal family, when the war ended. Draco could not ruin that for him. He wasn't planning on telling Potter a thing about the baby. It was bad enough that he was going to ruin a friendship for what was going to look like a quick shag. He refused to force Potter to care about the baby and spoil him the family he really wanted.

It was going to be a one night lay, and he'll have to resign himself to be isolated afterwards, because he was sure that Potter would hate him again. Draco had no doubts that he will be able to seduce the boy with Sally's help, and he had to start quickly because time was of the essence. Severus and the other adults believed that he could take his time to sort his feelings and get used to the idea of what he had to do, but they didn't know that the magic of Sally's mother was running away and that once it was totally spent, the bond would kill them.

At the moment, the fact that Sally and Draco were "sharing" a body made the Dragon incorporeal, almost as if she was a spirit, so she could live within the boy's body. This meant that a lot of her magic was already compromised, so, when her mother's magic ran out, Draco's magic would be the main source of energy for the bond. But Draco had not yet reached his full magical potential and he never would if he had to "feed" the bond continuously. Of course Sally's magic would be drained too; eventually the strain was going to be too much for them and they'd be dead. If that happened before they had a chance to try the ritual they were all doomed. No more Rainbow Dragons and eventually no more magic.

Draco shuddered at the thought. He asked himself again what her aunt had been thinking to do something that stupid? He cursed his relatives and cursed the Dark Lord for having concocted something that required him to get pregnant! That made him remember how much his mother had fought against his father when he had asked her for another son, saying that there was no way in hell that she was going to endure another nine months of torture just because he didn't find his first son 'adequate' enough!

The memory stung a bit. It was also a reminder of how much his father had been disappointed in him. But he ignored his hurt feelings in favour of wondering if it really was that bad to have a child. His mother had made it sound as if it was the worst that could happen to a woman, but if that was true then why some women had so many children? Mrs Weasley was a good example of that. Maybe his mother was exaggerating, it couldn't be that bad.

Draco shuddered. He knew it was pointless to worry about that. It didn't matter how he felt, Sally was more important. She was all Draco had left and he was not going to lose her, neither was he going to let them both die, no matter what. If only he could convince himself that he could survive a pregnancy. Sally hummed in his mind, murmuring soft reassurances. She was going to be with him, they would survive it together. Draco stopped thinking and let himself be lulled to sleep by Sally's comforting presence.


	9. Spells

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Author's note:** This story was planned (and partially done) before the release of DH, so I'm messing a bit with the horcruxes. I'll not have Harry been one on this and I'm practically ignoring the canon location of the cup. Ravenclaw's item is a problem, but I'm going to respect it a bit more. I'd rather ignore Gryffindor's sword.

**Chapter 08.** **Spells.**

Harry looked at the now empty wall with satisfaction. It had taken them a good amount of time and headache, but Sirius' mother's portrait was finally down and out of their lives. The process had involved plenty of dark curses that Remus and Hermione had found in one of the most ancient books in the library, and a lot of shrieking on the portrait's part; as well as the combined forces of the golden trio, Remus, Tonks and the Weasley twins. Harry had not been surprised when Malfoy had run to hide in his bedroom, complaining loudly about his poor eardrums that were about to explode. Harry had not been any better, as every charm they had tried to dampen the noise had failed miserably. They had to give it to Mrs. Black; she had been a powerful witch. Kreacher of course had wailed loudly once the portrait had been down and disposed of, mourning his lost mistress, and had retired to his lair. Harry didn't care much about the old elf, but had send Dobby to watch him closely, just in case it would try to do something suspicious.

Harry sighed and walked towards the first floor to inform Malfoy that it was safe to wander out of the room now.

The black haired boy was content. It seemed like for the first time in years, everything was going the way he wanted. A couple of weeks had passed by since they had found Hufflepuff's cup and had it tucked away in a magical container that Hermione had prepared, until they were ready to destroy the Horcruxes. The things had very powerful spells protecting them and the dark magic they themselves contained was intense and evil. They all had felt how it had called to the darkest desires in their hearts; luring them to use its power for their own benefit. They had been able to resist it and put the cup away in the unused attic of the house. Harry smiled as he remembered how tired they all had been the next morning. None of the trio had made an appearance to breakfast or lunch. Thankfully, Malfoy had not questioned them.

It had been a nice and quiet couple of weeks; even Ginny's birthday had passed by without trouble, mostly because Malfoy had retired to his room that particular day and Harry had preferred peace and had left him be. Along the last days, they had focused in finally doing some mayor repair to the house. The elves' heads had been long gone, and the room where Buckbeak had once stayed had been cleaned over the last year, but the house was awfully big and needed much more attention. The removal of Mrs. Black's portrait was the final thing that required heavy magic, by then they had already taken down the wall separating the drawing room from the library. The Black family tree was gone and the old drawing room had been made into a sort of antechamber to the library. The curses preventing the garden from being tended to had also been removed and Hermione had suggested asking Neville for his opinion on some plants that could be useful to have nearby.

Of course they hadn't forgotten their training. Mad eye was now escalating to teach them the basics of martial arts and Remus had started teaching them high advanced spells. Only the Horcrux's hunt had been slowed down. They still needed to know which Ravenclaw's relic Voldemort had used and to figure out whom their mysterious R.A.B. was, and after that, they'll need to find out where this person had hidden the real Slytherin locket. Hermione was convinced that she had seen the locket or one very similar before, she only couldn't remember where.

That however was something to worry about later, at the moment Harry had reached Draco's door and knocked politely before open it and peer inside the room. The blond was sitting cross legged on his bed, hands over his ears, and scowling at one of a few potions books that Moody had brought him, claiming that the boy might as well do something useful and help with healing potions. That had been a couple of days ago, after the ex-auror had discovered that there was an old and long disused potions' lab in the house. The Slytherin boy was required to make a list of needed potions' ingredients and was seemingly taking the task very seriously. Harry was happy for him. The blond needed something to occupy his mind and he had always liked potions.

"Hey Malfoy. The house is quiet now."

"Can't hear you. I was rendered deaf for life."

Draco was trying very hard to appear quiet and undisturbed. The very first thing that Snape had taught him once they could meet again was to effectively block the sense of magic around him, in a better way than how he had been doing so far. Snape's technique was really strong, but it had not been enough to escape from the overwhelming "noise" that the portrait had made. To Draco it had been as if the entire house had been screaming in pain as some integral part of it had been tore apart. The boy was still shocked to the core after feeling the raw magic emanating from the portrait, moments before the spell that had kept it in place had disintegrated in the most horrendous manner. It had been the most awful experience of his life. Well, second only to being crucioed. Thank Merlin it had ended and the house now seemed to be quiet. There was still a deep gash in the structural magic of the building where the portrait had been. Draco could feel that it was slowly filling itself.

The blond wasn't sure why Harry had come for him, but hoped that the boy didn't notice something wrong. He stubbornly fixed his eyes in the text in front of him and pretended to read, hoping that Harry interpreted his actions as teasing.

Harry smiled. Over the last few days Draco had been really trying to socialize more with them and had started to confide in the black-haired Gryffindor. They had had some talks about their respective childhoods and had found out that both of them had grown up very lonely, albeit in very different ways. Harry felt that Malfoy was trying to fit in the group and was making an effort to be nice with his friends, all without losing his previous proud personality. Mrs. Weasley had the theory that being away from horrendous Death Eaters had done a lot of good to the boy, and was starting to treat him as one of her own. So far, only Ginny was still openly hostile with the blond and Malfoy actively avoided her whenever possible. Of course they still distrusted the Slytherin, Ron in particular was suspicious of his behaviour and it unnerved him the lack of insults on the blonde's part. Harry didn't care. He was really happy that things were calm between them and that Malfoy seemed to be more at ease among the Gryffindors.

Some little part of Harry's mind was worried that he could be misinterpreting the signs and Malfoy really was plotting something, after all, they had no real proof that the boy had actually changed. Harry had the distinct impression that Malfoy wanted to be accepted, but he really had no idea if the blond actually wanted to be a different person, or if he was only trying to do what was expected of him in order to keep himself alive and away from Azkaban. Either way, the Gryffindor had already reasoned that if Malfoy was doing an effort to behave, he deserved the opportunity to prove himself. Harry knew how bad it felt to be isolated, and for the Slytherin to be away from his family, knowing that his mother could very well be dead, must have been especially hard.

"Come on Malfoy! Don't be such a sissy! We are going to have a picnic in the forest to celebrate!"

Draco looked up, instantly interested by the prospect of getting some fresh air.

"That sounds like you lot succeeded in murdering the portrait."

Harry grinned at him.

"Well, you can't murder something that isn't actually alive, can you?"

Malfoy couldn't help the shudder that ran through his spine. He was not sure that something that felt the way the portrait had couldn't be alive. Harry must have sensed his discomfort because he raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

"It screamed bloody murder until the very end. Surely that qualifies as some kind of life." He said defensively. Harry threw him an unbelievable look.

"Are you going Hufflepuff on me Malfoy? Don't tell me you have not seen worse dark magic in your house!"

"Of course I have seen it!" '_Only I have certainly never "felt" it like that before!'_ Draco fumbled for a second on what to say that could not be held against him. "Really Potter, believe me when I say that I have no interest in seeing something worse than what you were doing any time again soon. Especially when I don't have a wand."

Harry looked apologetic for a moment and then decided to change the subject. He really didn't want to start discussing what dark magic Malfoy could or couldn't have been privy to.

"Well, are you going to give a rest to your potions books or not? Really, since Moody gave you those it seems like you have forgotten that there's a full library just down the hall."

Draco looked at the book he had grabbed earlier in a feeble attempt to have something to hold onto while the house raged around him. It was no simple potions book; this one was the Prince's family copy of a certain Dragon's book. Moody had brought it over with the rest of the books destined to the blonde's use for him to study. Malfoy was eternally grateful that this particular copy was printed in modern English and couldn't suppress a smile thinking about his ex-potion's professor. Of course Snape's copy of the ancient book had to be disguised as a potions text. Always the practical one.

Malfoy put the book aside and was about to answer Harry when the Weasley twins intruded in his room.

"Come on! What's keeping you?"

"We can't leave poor Hermione alone with our Ronnikins for too long!"

"Yeah! Who knows what he could do to her?"

The twins pulled Harry away and Draco was half expecting to be left behind, but one of them re-entered the room and dragged the blond outside.

"Come along Malfoy! You need some sun! That pale shade of skin is unhealthy!"

* * *

Mrs. Weasley and Ginny had joined the assembly with the food when the four boys arrived to the garden's "back door" and all of them exited Grimmauld place's grounds in search for a bit of sun. They had a peaceful picnic in a clearing of the forest. Everybody was in high spirits because the last Death Eater's attack had been promptly nullified and it seemed that the goblins were willing to have a chat with the Order. McGonagall and Harry were going to meet with them in a couple of days. Draco was listening to their plans to make new and stronger alliances, and even to make the Minister of Magic change some of the tactics of his administration. He thought briefly that they were letting their guard down. The Dark Lord would surely take vengeance for his failed attack, but he figured that everybody needed to celebrate the little victories once in a while.

He stayed quiet for most of the lunch, listening to Sally's growl once in a while. The dragon was not entirely comfortable with Remus' presence, but Draco had assured her that the werewolf didn't mean harm to him. When they finished eating, Draco followed Potter to a nearby tree, with the sole purpose to relax a little under its shadow. Ginny soon joined them; seating at Harry's other side. Malfoy looked around to see if the other two thirds of the golden trio were going to sit with them, but he spotted Ron and Hermione going deeper into the forest for some exploration. Mrs. Weasley was shouting after them to not go too far.

Draco sighed uncomfortably. He had been trying to get closer to the Gryffindors and understand them better. A couple of days ago, Sally had activated the "lust" spell, which, Draco had found out, worked more like a compulsion spell. The primary goal was for the person to be noticed by the "target" and then said "target" felt the need to be close to the person. The desire came later and, according to Salamanca, the more the "target" truly wished to be near the person, the stronger the lust.

Draco had also discovered that the spell worked both ways. He felt the need to be with the other boy. He wanted to be able to be near Harry at all times, even with the black-haired boy's friends present. So he had to at least show a bit of interest in them.

It pained him somewhat to admit that it wasn't so bad. He had found out that Granger had an interesting way of thinking, but he could not for the life of him phantom what she had seen in Ronald Weasley. The boy was careless, ill tempered and dull; and he wasn't exactly handsome. Draco could think of many boys far more agreeable to the eye. And his level of magic was really not a match for hers. She was intelligent. She could have a better partner. One with whom she could have children with dragon blood in their veins and stronger magic. Children that could perhaps have a bond… Draco's mouth twitched. He was now thinking of suitable partners for Granger! Dear Merlin! This Dragon bond thing was really starting to mess with his head! Harry's words suddenly took him out of his thoughts.

"Something wrong Malfoy? You seem too interested in Hermione and Ron."

Draco huffed in annoyance. He wasn't interested, he just couldn't understand that particular couple. Ginny narrowed her eyes at him.

"Surely Malfoy is thinking along the lines of what a disgrace it is that another pureblood line is going to admit new muggleborn blood in it."

"Ginny, don't start."

"But it's true, doesn't it Malfoy? You are thinking that they are not good to each other, don't you?"

Draco shrugged, still looking towards the path that the couple had taken.

"Well, yeah."

Harry was taken aback by that admission and looked at the blond intently. The conversation got the twins' attention and they approached as Ginny was talking sarcastically.

"So, Malfoy is still a git that firmly believes in pureblooded superiority. What a surprise."

"What was that Malfoy?"

"You're thinking of a better witch?"

"A pureblooded one perhaps?"

Harry had not said a word, but he was biting his lip. He was clearly disturbed to notice that Malfoy was not paying enough attention to them.

"Actually I am thinking of a better wizard. Granger could do far better than Ron Weasley. I don't know what she sees in him!"

The look on the other's faces was almost comical. All of them were wide eyed and with mouths open. Draco bit his lip, realizing belatedly that he had just insulted their brother and best friend. However, Harry's words show him that they had not processed the insult yet as their minds were totally occupied by another thought.

"A better wizard? Who?"

Draco raised an eyebrow, slightly taken aback by the question.

"I don't know. Someone capable to keep up with her, and not too slow in comprehending things. She's powerful. There are plenty of wizards powerful enough to complement her magic. And smartest, and with a lot more of common sense for example and… what?"

"So…" started the twins.

"You are saying that our Ronnikins…"

"…is not good enough for Hermione…"

"…because she's better than him…"

"…because she's more powerful?"

Draco looked at them nervously and started to shift slightly away form his previous spot. Ready to bolt.

"Umm… well, yes."

The twins closed onto him predatorily. Not allowing much space for him to run.

"Are you aware Malfoy…"

"…of the fact that Ron is still a pureblood?"

"Not rich certainly, but still a pureblood."

"Wha… Yeah, so what?"

"And she's still better than him?"

"Uh… yes?"

The twins narrowed their eyes.

"Do you know something about Hermione…"

"…that we don't, Malfoy?"

Draco paled dramatically and stared incredulously at the twins.

"What?"

Harry's laugh was heard in the clearing and Draco looked at him like he was mad. Then he noticed the looks of pure amusement now in the twins' faces. Ginny was looking at him murderously as always. The blond wondered what Potter thought was so funny. Harry of course was quick to inform him.

"… I-I never expected to see the day that a Malfoy would say a muggleborn is better than a pureblood… even if the pureblood is Ron!"

The twins joined Harry in his laugh as Malfoy's cheeks blushed, understanding the situation. He hadn't been thinking in terms of bloodlines, only of how strong the magic was in a person. He had not really been considering Granger's parentage. He crossed his arms, a bit upset with himself, and glared at the laughing boys.

"Well, so what? It's not as if I'm singing her praises or something like that!"

"If I didn't know better Malfoy… I'll say that you like Hermione!" said George between laughs.

Draco looked positively horrified, which made the laugh grow louder. Ginny was not partaking of his brother's and Harry's joy. She was upset that Malfoy had managed to reassert Harry's belief that he had changed; which was obviously a lie. They couldn't see what a good actor Malfoy was. She wanted to ripe out Malfoy's façade but she didn't know how.

The blond huffed and got to his feet, clearly intending to get away. Harry quickly reached over to him, grabbing the edge of his trouser.

"… He-Hey! Wait Malfoy… don't run away!"

"I really don't see the reason why I should stay here in such company."

"Oh, please! You have to admit that it is rather uncharacteristic of you to be pointing out Hermione's superiority. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

The grin in Harry's face told another story, but Draco let it go. The twins got up and proceeded to drag the other two boys towards some brooms that they had brought along for a quick Quidditch game. Ginny followed them, still upset.

Ron complained loudly when he and Hermione returned from their little trip and found out that the rest had started to play Quidditch without him. They stopped and started over to include Ron while Hermione helped Mrs. Weasley to clean the area on which they had eaten.

* * *

After dinner, Harry was pacing in the library, thinking. It had been a pleasant day. Harry was satisfied to see that Malfoy was starting to get along with the Weasleys. Of course they had not informed Ron of the blonde's opinion about his inadequacy to be Hermione's boyfriend, as they didn't want the red-head to murder Malfoy, much less for him to think that the Slytherin fancied his girl.

Harry grimaced at that thought. Of course Malfoy didn't fancy Hermione. That was ridiculous. The blond surely fancied one of the Slytherin girls. Harry winced a little remembering Pansy Parkinson's pug face and did an effort to remember the rest of the female Slytherins in the same year as Draco. None of them was particularly pretty. The Gryffindor boy was suddenly wondering about which type of girl Malfoy liked and then stopped and berated himself. It really was none of his business what girl Malfoy liked. The blond was free to fancy whoever he wanted.

Harry scowled and entangled his hands in his hair in a nervous gesture. Lately he had caught himself thinking more and more about Malfoy. Perhaps Hermione was right to worry about his obsession with the blond. Harry had never before been so fixated with a person. It felt different from the past year when the Gryffindor had been trying to prove that Malfoy was looking for trouble. Now he seemed to want to prove that the Slytherin was trying to help, to be accepted. Harry felt protective; as if somehow Malfoy's well being was his responsibility. He had assumed it to be a consequence of having found out the blond and offering him help in the first place, but now he wasn't so sure anymore.

The Gryffindor boy was very aware that he had been treating Malfoy as a friend and even when he continued to tell himself and the others that he didn't trust the blond, his actions didn't exactly support what he was saying. For the past few days he had actually _longed_ to be with Malfoy, which made no sense. The fact that, apparently, Malfoy _wanted_ to spend time with him didn't help at all. Somehow they had gone from hating each other to form a tentative friendship in a matter of days. Harry didn't know if he should be worried.

Sighing in defeat, Potter sat heavily on one of the couches. He was clearly not thinking straight. He shouldn't be worrying about the strange way he was behaving around Malfoy. He had more important things to do. Like looking for clues that lead him to the remaining horcruxes.

He shook his head to clear it and took a book from the side table. It was about bloodlines. Harry had found a copy of the book in the Black's library the previous week and had thought it interesting. The book had the family trees of every pure-blooded family, as far back as the fall of the Roman Empire times it seemed. It had some very detailed entries about some people, including some locations and places considered important. The book was part of a magical encyclopaedia; its contents were a rather large preamble and a long index. You had to point with your wand at the family name you were interested in and said a short incantation for the index to disappear and the pages of the book to fill with said family's history. Another incantation was required to return to the index.

Harry had been appalled by the number of pureblood families in the index. He had realized later that many of them were already dead, but still it was a fair number. He had also been extremely disappointed upon discovering that the encyclopaedia wasn't complete. Many names in the index had been scratched down or erased and some pages had been torn. Some families were still activated in the index, but their histories lacked some pages. Like the Potters' for example. The lineage came from the founder's times, but the family history ended abruptly around 1900. The last pages were missing.

He had been so frustrated that he had complained loudly about the book one breakfast, only to have Ron and Malfoy inform him that every pureblooded family had a copy of the same encyclopaedia and Ron had happily offered to ask his father for it. That afternoon Mr. Weasley had lent him the family copy of the book. It was more tattered than the one in the Black's library but it was complete. Mr Weasley had explained that those books were family heirlooms, no new copies were printed since the early 1800's and their magic allowed them to keep updating themselves. Unfortunately, apparently the magic had wasted away after so many years, because sometime around the late 70's the book had stopped updating. Therefore, Harry could find his parents in the family tree but not himself.

He had discovered some things about his family and the possible inheritance he still had to acknowledge, but he left it to examine another time, he was rather looking forward to know more about the founder's bloodlines. To his immense frustration, he was unable to access Slytherin line. Mr. Weasley had explained that some families had actually gone to the printer, so their lineage was only visible to their own descendants by means of a complex spell that allowed the book to identify the magical signature of the caster and somehow link him or her to blood relatives. Gryffindor's history had the same protection. Fortunately, Ravenclaw's was available and Harry had already noted a few items that were likely candidates to horcruxes. He only had to share his findings with Ron and Hermione, both of whom had been quite busy with one another lately.

Harry decided that he could give a look to his family's history and searched the index for the Potters. He was starting to read a bit of his father's childhood when he felt a familiar presence in front of him.

"Still reading that book Potter? I thought that you'll leave it once you had read everything about your father."

Harry smiled to the blond while he took a seat on the couch beside him. The couch was large enough for three people, but Draco practically glued himself to Harry's left side, peeking over his arm to look at the book. The Gryffindor didn't make a move to put some distance between them.

"Well I want to do some research, not only on my family line. There's so much I can know about the purebloods, even when many of the families had blocked their part on the encyclopaedia. I lack a lot of knowledge about wizard history and traditions. Voldemort already has a great advantage over me. The least I should do is try to know as much as he knows. I bet that he had managed to fool many of his followers with his knowledge, I'm sure that even the ones who know the truth don't really believe that he's a half-blood."

Draco smirked at this. For many Death Eaters, like his father, it would be a shocking revelation. The mighty purebloods leaded and controlled by a half-blood whom they feared! He could imagine the look of incredulity on Lucius' face.

"Do you think you could disclose the Black's information?"

Draco had to retreat a bit to be able to see Potter properly. He sat back and looked directly to the other boy's face. One of his knees still touching briefly the Gryffindor's one.

"Maybe, I'm technically a Black. Why?"

"I'm just curious. I want to see how long the "most ancient" house of Black has actually been around."

"Ok, but I don't have a wand. I don't know if the spell would function if I use a wand that's not attuned to me. Maybe with one powerful enough…"

Surprisingly, Harry took out his wand without hesitation and offered it to the blond. It wasn't until Draco quirked an eyebrow to him and took hold of one end of the wand that Harry doubted, thus not letting go of the other end.

"You know Potter; if Mad eye had been here you'll be in for a hell of a hearing about that constant vigilance thing he's always bragging about."

"Umm, yeah well…"

Harry didn't know what to say. He was very aware that it had been a stupid thing to do. One never gives his wand to another person. Never. Much less if he claimed to not trust said person. He only knew that somehow his instincts had decided that Malfoy was trustworthy, even if his rational mind was starting to feel alarmed. He bit his lip nervously and stared into Malfoy's silver eyes. Deep, silver eyes. So beautiful. Harry lowered his sight and stopped at Draco's thin lips. Somehow they looked so tender, so… palatable. If he just leaned forward a little bit…

Harry blinked and tried to focus on what was happening.

"Err…"

"Stupefy!"

Draco's eyes widened a fraction before the spell hit him and he fell backwards on the couch. Harry stared stupidly at Malfoy's unconscious form for a second before Ginny came crashing into him.

"Harry! Harry. Are you alright?"

The boy turned to look at her. His brain was trying to get past the utter confusion of the last minutes and catch up with the events.

"Ginny? You hexed him? But… What did you do that for?"

"Harry he was about to take your wand! He could have harmed you!"

The Gryffindor realized that that was how it would look to a witness and felt even more stupid. He put down his wand and sighed.

"Look Ginny…"

Harry was brutally interrupted by a burst of magic that sent both him and the red-head flying to the nearest wall. When he landed on the floor he immediately sat up, wand ready, and stopped. The boy stared in shock at Malfoy's unmoving form, which was now glowing green. All the furniture, save the couch where Draco was lying on, were now scattered in complete chaos all over the place.

Harry didn't know what to do. He stood and absently helped Ginny to her feet, wondering if they should go get help.

_Sally was furious. Draco could feel it through the slumber the spell had forced him into. She was enraged that someone had interrupted the most promising moment that the boys had have until now. Draco could feel her magic going out of control, leaking out of his body, and panicked. He tried to talk to Sally and calm her down. They were at the library and Harry could get hurt. The dragon relaxed a little and the magic slowly settled down. Draco felt relief at the same time that oblivion took over._

Harry looked in wonder as the glow around Malfoy receded and he stopped to feel the incessant leak of magic coming from the blond. He took a step towards the couch and Ginny grabbed his arm to stop him.

"No Harry! It's dangerous! We should call McGonagall to get him out of here!"

Harry scowled, wondering again what he should do. He was saved by the sudden appearance of Dobby. The elf was jumping nervously up and down beside him.

"Dobby felt sudden burst of magic. Dobby wondered if Master Harry Potter was fine."

Harry looked at the elf and half smiled.

"I'm fine Dobby, thanks. It's Malfoy the one who had the onslaught."

The elf's eyes went even bigger than they were and the creature turned towards the stupefied blond and approached gingerly.

"Be careful Dobby. It may be dangerous." Suggested Ginny.

The elf paid her no heed and after a few seconds was hoping up and down again.

"Master Draco Malfoy was hexed, Master Harry Potter sir! Magic reacted to spell sir! It is fine now sir!"

Harry relaxed slightly and approached the couch and the elf.

"But why it did that thing? I have never seen something like that before."

Dobby wriggled his hands together and his ears flattened on his head. He was really nervous.

"Draco Malfoy not uses magic lately. Draco Malfoy is powerful wizard. Magic must be reaching its peek, unstable because lack of use sir."

"Oh." Said Harry, not really understanding what the elf meant or why the creature suddenly was pulling at its ears.

"He should be away from here Harry. Who knows what damage he could do?"

Harry was surprised to see that Dobby had narrowed his big eyes and was glaring at Ginny. He was about to ask if something was wrong when he heard Kreacher's drawling voice beside the couch.

"Not Master Malfoy's fault if witch attacks him and magic protects."

Dobby nodded at the old elf's words and Harry felt lost for a few seconds. Then started to reason the events and analyse them.

"You know Ginny, maybe Kreacher's right. You attacked Malfoy, and you really didn't have any reason to do it. Dobby said that his magic reacted to your spell. If you haven't hexed him, this wouldn't have happened."

Ginny stared open mouthed for a second at Harry and then scowled, starting to look really angry.

"What are you saying Harry? He had hold of your wand! What was I supposed to do? Wait till he had killed you?"

"He was not going to do anything! Look Ginny, I was giving him my wand, I…"

"You what? Why would you do such a stupid thing Harry?"

"I wanted his help with something! Ok? And he needed a wand to be able to help me, so I was going to lend him mine! Fine?"

"No Harry it's not fine! How can you be so trusting? You gave him the perfect opportunity to hurt you!"

"Well, he didn't do anything! We weren't even arguing when you arrived Ginny! In fact, he was precisely pointing out that I was doing something stupid!"

"Well then, it was a good thing that I hexed him at that moment! Surely after he informed you of your mistake he was going to curse you!"

Harry ran his hands through his hair in agitation. He didn't know how to explain to Ginny that Draco's intentions hadn't been ill.

"Ginny you can't know that! Look, he wasn't going to hurt me; we were just making some fun of the Death Eaters because Voldemort can fool them so easily, and we were talking about the Bloodlines' book. That's all."

Ginny narrowed her eyes and for a second Harry was sure that she was about to hex him too.

"Maybe he has already cursed you. He had Madam Rosmerta under Imperius the last year. That could be the reason why you are acting so strange Harry."

The boy gaped at her and immediately felt like she had insulted him.

"That's bloody ridiculous Ginny! In case you have forgotten I know pretty well how an Imperius feels like! I can fight it for God's sake!"

"And could you still fight it if you don't know you've been cursed Harry?"

"The feeling is the same anyways! I was perfectly able to fight down Voldemort's Imperius! Or are you telling me that Malfoy is more powerful than Voldemort Ginny?"

The girl backed down and bit her lip.

"Well of course not. But he could have done something before Harry, something to make you act differently!"

"Without a wand?" Harry asked sceptically.

"He can know how to do wandless magic for all we know!"

Harry sighed and shook his head.

"I don't think so Ginny. If Malfoy knew wandless magic he would have bragged about it ages ago. Especially in front of Ron."

"But…"

"Look Ginny. It's late already, and this discussion is useless. Nothing bad happened, and Malfoy is not going to hurt anyone. Next time try to be sure of what's happening before you throw hexes around."

Harry considered the talk ended and turned towards the couch. He proceeded to haul Malfoy on his arms and carry him bride style; much to Ginny's horror.

"Harry what are you doing?"

"I'm going to take him to his bed."

"What? Why? You can enervate him or levitate him!"

"After that reaction? I'm certainly not sending any spells on Malfoy's direction until Madam Pomfrey checks him up. And before you suggest it, I'm not leaving him to sleep on the couch! It's not his fault that you decided to stun him!"

Harry started to walk towards the door after telling the house-elves to put some order in the library. Ginny stared after him for a moment, finally concluding that she had to say what had really prompted her to hex Malfoy.

"Harry, he was about to kiss you!"

The black-haired boy froze at the doorstep and turned around slowly, gaping at the girl.

"W-what?"

"You heard me! He was close enough! He only had to lean over and he would have kissed you!"

Harry blinked, not wanting to believe what he was hearing.

"Ginny that… that's ridiculous! Why on earth Malfoy would want to do that?"

The idea that the Slytherin could be gay had never occurred to Harry before; and he wasn't really considering it now. He was just honestly confused about why Ginny would think that Malfoy would want to kiss another boy, let alone him. The girl put her hands on her hips defiantly.

"Please Harry! Don't tell me you haven't noticed his attitude. He's been a flirt! And he has been doing it since he arrived! Just yesterday he sat at your feet and put his head on your knee!"

Harry remembered that. He also remembered that Ginny had glared at Malfoy and had threatened him with bloody murder if he didn't get away from her friend. The blond had then taken a sit on the couch, thus depriving Harry from the wonderful feeling of someone touching him... The boy blushed slightly and avoided Ginny's face. He didn't like having this talk.

"He was tired Ginny. That was not necessary flirting. Besides, Malfoy's a boy, why should he be flirting with me?"

"Malfoy is gay!"

Harry turned again to the girl; with a look of incredulity on his face.

"What? How do you know?"

"Girls talk Harry. It's really obvious once you observe him closely."

Harry didn't think that it was "obvious". Granted he couldn't say that he was an expert identifying the sexual preferences of others. It simply was not his business. And he refused to let Ginny's thoughts to influence him. What was obvious to him was that the girl was trying to make him treat Malfoy as the enemy. Back to old school grudges. Well she could forget that! He was not going to act as a child anymore! He had make peace with Malfoy and started a friendship and things were going to stay that way!

"I don't think that you should judge a person on the basis of school gossip Ginny."

"But Harry…!"

"And I really don't want to hear any of this! Have a good night."

The girl looked as Harry carried the blond boy out of the library and huffed in annoyance, turning to look at Dobby.

"How can you let him be fooled by Malfoy Dobby? Harry trusted you! I suspect a house-elf is only loyal if it's bonded after all!"

She turned around and exited the library angrily. Dobby narrowed his eyes at her.

"Dobby loyal to Master Harry Potter he is!"

"Witch does not know of Master's new elf." Said Kreacher, walking towards the younger elf. "Witch looks for trouble. Must watch witch. Not let witch interfere."

Dobby nodded and both elves disappeared with a loud pop.

* * *

Harry put Draco on the bed and debated whether it was safe to use his wand to change the blond into his pyjamas. Finally he only removed Draco's shoes and then he covered him with the comforter and smiled at the vision. The boy looked peaceful and innocent while he was sleeping. Harry thought that he was really handsome and that his hair looked beautiful in the moon light. His skin seemed soft, it must be tender to the touch; he wondered how it would feel like to kiss the blonde's temple…

Then he blinked and retreated a step from the bed, shaking his head. He was not, Not, thinking about Malfoy like that! The blond was a guy for Christ sake! And however handsome he was, Harry was definitely not gay! He had noticed on occasion a boy or two, but he liked women, he had liked Cho and he liked Ginny… Well he didn't like Ginny that much lately, but he still liked women!

He looked at the blond again to reassert his belief. Damn! But Malfoy looked bloody beautiful right then! Harry bit his lower lip and groaned. This couldn't be happening! He shouldn't be in his ex-nemesis bedroom suddenly questioning his own sexuality! All because of what Ginny had said!

And maybe it wasn't even true, maybe Ginny was just exaggerating and Malfoy already had a pretty girl on sight. Yeah, that was it, Ginny was undoubtedly mistaken. Harry had seen Malfoy dance with Pansy Parkinson on their fourth year. And when he had spied on the Slytherins in the train back in sixth year, Malfoy had had his head on Pansy's lap. They were surely together. In no way Draco Malfoy was gay! Having reached that conclusion, Harry turned around and got out of the room, berating himself against crazy thoughts.


	10. Coming Out

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Author's note:** Thank you to all that have reviewed this story so far. I'm aware that I'm taking too much time between updates, but I rarely have time to write, and last year was terrible. I'll try to hurry and find more time, so hopefully there would be shorter time to wait for an update. Thanks again.

**Chapter 09.** **Coming Out.**

Draco was at the sitting room, reading an Arithmancy book to kill time. He had have breakfast in his bedroom that day and had avoided meeting anyone the entire morning. They had left him alone. For once Potter had not intruded in his room, insisting on him getting down with the rest of them. That could possibly be because of the rather weird incident with Sally's magic the day before. Madam Pomfrey had come before breakfast and had checked him over, declaring him in good health and his magic stable. Then she had left and Draco didn't know what she had told the others, but he had the impression that she must have recommended to let him rest.

He sighed and put the book aside, it was nearly lunch time and he wasn't in the mood to keep hiding. Besides, it had been just an accident. Surely Madam Pomfrey had found out some sort of explanation, with the elves' help, and no one was going to ask him for his insight of things. Dobby had already informed him of what he had said to Harry about the blonde's sudden burst of magic, and if someone did question him, he could always repeat what Dobby had said. It was after all a viable explanation, Draco had known of some cases when a coming of age wizard had lost control of his magic because of the sudden increase in its levels. What had happened to him had not been so different.

Draco decided to make an appearance for lunch, convincing himself that no one was going to be interested enough on his health, or curious enough, to ask for details about the incident.

When Malfoy entered the kitchen, Ron was already there with a Quidditch magazine on his hands. The blond sighed and took a seat in front of the red-head, waiting for the others to arrive. Ron lowered the magazine and looked at the blond intently for a few seconds before questioning him.

"So, Harry said that Ginny hexed you without reason. How was that?"

Draco groaned inwardly. It had been too much to hope that no one would demand explanations.

"How I'm supposed to know? I was just sitting there beside Potter. He was the one that wanted me to help him with that book of bloodlines."

"Yeah, he had explained that. What beats me is why would he want to lend you his wand?"

"He only wanted my help. And he hadn't even given it to me yet when your crazy sister attacked me."

Ron grimaced. While Madam Pomfrey had been checking Malfoy, Harry and Ginny had explained to Mrs. Weasley, Tonks, Ron and Hermione what had happened. He didn't blame Ginny for her reaction; he would have done exactly the same. Harry was just so bloody trusting sometimes. But Harry had told them that he had been about to ask Malfoy to give an oath to be sure that he couldn't do anything against him with Harry's wand. Ron of course believed him. After all, Harry could be trusting but he wasn't stupid. He knew how to protect himself from the Slytherins. They all had been ready to consider the incident just a weird accident, but Ginny had to get all defensive and said… that.

Ron had laughed. He could easily imagine Malfoy as a ponce, but there was no way that Harry could be attracted to anything but women. And of course Harry wouldn't let the ferret get THAT close to him. There was no way that any boy could get into Harry's pants, his sister must have had overreacted. Ginny had been pissed and had accused the lot of them of not taking things seriously. She had left the house immediately, near tears. Harry had gone to his room, looking uncomfortable, and had stayed there the rest of the morning.

After the adults had left the house, Ron and Hermione had had time to analyse things, and the bushy-haired girl had reasoned that Dobby would have had warned them if Malfoy had done something suspicious. The elf was entirely loyal to Harry and would protect him from harm. They had even talked with Dobby and the excited creature had assured them that Draco Malfoy had done nothing to harm Harry. If he had, Dobby would have hexed the blond himself. Both friends had decided that Ginny was upset because she and Harry were forced to be apart and maybe they needed a bit of time together. That would surely put Ginny at ease and Harry would feel happier knowing that his soon-to-be girlfriend was only worried about him. They were going to talk with Harry about it when things cooled down a little, maybe they could arrange a special day just for Harry and Ginny to be together.

Ron returned to look at the blond. Malfoy had been so civil the entire time, not at all the boy he used to be at Hogwarts. If he was plotting something he certainly had enough acting skills to fool whoever he wanted. Ron had almost started to believe that Harry was right and the Slytherin had changed. But no, he reminded himself that the blond was a Slytherin and the son of a Death Eater, he won't allow himself to let his guard down. Someone had to look for Harry. Ginny was perhaps exaggerating in her reactions, but she was still on guard. They simply were getting too comfortable around Malfoy, too used to him. That was definitely not good.

"Tell me Malfoy, why have you been so civil? Why the sudden change from Hogwarts? Even when Harry has granted you protection, I surely expected you to be resentful for it."

Before Draco could think of a suitable answer, Hermione and Harry entered the kitchen. Apparently they were discussing the book of bloodlines, because Harry carried it open and Granger was smiling excitedly.

"We must look into it Harry! It's a very good prospect… Oh, hi Malfoy, feeling better?"

"Yes, much better."

Harry looked at the blond and blushed a bright red. Draco raised an eyebrow in askance but the Gryffindor quickly averted his eyes and sat besides Weasley. Granger started to help a much annoyed Kreacher with the plates for lunch while she talked about all the work they still had to do for the house.

Harry shifted uncomfortably while he listened to Ron talk about the Chuddley Cannons, not daring to look in Malfoy's direction. He had thanked the gods that the blond had not been present at breakfast. He had had time to cool down a little from the embarrassing dream he had have. Fuck Ginny. It had been her fault for putting images in Harry's head! He had never before dreamed about a boy in THAT way! Stupid Ginny with her stupid comments! Now he won't be able to see the Slytherin without remember that dream!

He tried to ignore the fact that Malfoy was persistently looking at him and ate lunch as casual as possible. He didn't want to be too obvious, but he failed miserably, after some time he could feel Ron and Hermione looking at him with concern. He forced himself to participate in the conversation and to act normal. His friends seemed to relax after a while, but Malfoy was not easily fooled and continued glancing at him suspiciously from time to time. Harry managed to ignore him and by the time they finished lunch he felt more like himself again.

* * *

After lunch, Hermione managed to convince the boys to do some tidy up to help the elves. They went to the upper floors of the manor and chose the potions' lab to do the cleaning. After all, Malfoy would surely start using it soon enough.

Halfway through cleaning the floor, without magic until they identified all of the old ingredients and stuff still kept in the shelves and cabinets, Harry finally gained enough courage to approach Malfoy and apologize for Ginny's behaviour. The blond shrugged, saying that it was not really important and they continued putting some order in the potion's lab. Malfoy mostly only tried to arrange and clean different items. He wasn't much for manual work and he missed his wand. He also was curious about the nervousness in Harry's behaviour. The boy had been acting weird, almost as if he was afraid to be too close to him. Draco suspected that it was not only the fact that the red-headed girl had attacked him. He was pondering what he should do when Hermione suddenly huffed and marched over to the black-haired boy.

"You know Harry, if you're gonna be so nervous around him you should just tell him the real reason Ginny gave for hexing him!"

"Yeah Harry, so we can see his reaction." Said Ron, getting out from under a table where he had been sorting out several boxes full of jars.

Harry blushed fiercely and Draco raised both eyebrows at the boy in question.

"Well… you see, it's really stupid… just because we were a bit close… it didn't mean anything… she was just seeing things and saying stupid things and…!"

"Potter, I don't understand a thing you're saying."

Hermione was eying her friend carefully while Ron patted his back, commenting that his sister was at fault for talking nonsense. Draco started to worry.

"Oh, for God's sake!" said Granger, turning to look at the blond boy almost accusingly.

"Ginny said that you were about to kiss Harry. Is that true?"

Malfoy's face was the very picture of incredulity. Inside he was screaming every foul name he knew to Ginny Weasley, but he managed to not give away his annoyance.

"Why would I want to do that?"

"You see! I told you it was laughable! Don't worry mate, Ginny doesn't know what she's saying."

Harry's blush only deepened, but Ron didn't notice, he just turned around and returned to the table and the boxes. Hermione however gave a final intense look to Harry before returning to what she had been doing.

Harry bit his lip and started to clean up the set of vials that Malfoy had in front of him.

"So, it's really laughable right? Ginny's just overreacting?"

Draco wondered how someone could sound so disappointed and relieved at the same time. He looked around to be sure that Harry's friends were occupied and not likely to interrupt them and then got a bit closer to the other boy.

"What would be the difference? I thought you liked girls?"

Harry's eyes widened and then he shook his head a bit too hastily.

"No, I mean yes… Yes, I like girls. I-I… well, it's really nothing… you like girls too, right?"

Draco debated for a while whether to tell Harry the truth and risk the boy running away and hate him again. Then decided that it would be harder to get Potter to notice him if the boy grew comfortable with the idea that he was not interested. So, he prayed that he was not about to get hexed again and answered.

"Well, I actually prefer boys. I don't care about girls that way."

Harry' eyes seemed about to pop out of their sockets. Draco started to feel that he had made a mistake after all.

"Is it that strange?"

"No! No, I-I was just surprised. I… I thought that you and Pansy were an item?"

"I care about Pansy. She's a very good friend. Only not of the right gender."

"Oh." Harry blushed again and tried very hard to not think about the blondes' answer. He desperately looked for something else to say, if they both fell silent he was going to start thinking and remembering his recent dream! "Then I suppose that all the rumours about you both being betrothed are false?"

Harry smacked himself mentally. That was definitely not a good question! He didn't want to know more about Malfoy's private life! Draco just shrugged.

"The tradition is to announce a betrothal when the male reaches the majority of age." He frowned and seemed thoughtful for a second. "I think that Pansy actually might have been grateful to you last year."

"Me? Why?" asked Harry with curiosity.

"Well, on our fifth year Greengrass discovered by accident that I was gay and somehow my father heard that. At Christmas, he threatened to get Pansy and I married while we were still underage, that way the Ministry would have only required our parents' consent and no one would have asked our opinion. But, since my father spent the last year in Azkaban and now we both are of age, technically he won't be able to force us to marry."

Harry for some reason felt slightly horrified.

"You mean that you would have been married last year if Lucius hadn't gone to Azkaban?"

"Very likely. Unless I had managed to find a way around veritaserum. So, thanks to you Pansy is still a free woman."

"Gee, glad I could help." Said Harry sarcastically.

"Well, you're the hero around here, don't you?"

Harry was about to retort, but Hermione interrupted them with an excited yelp.

"Harry! Harry look! I think I've found R.A.B.!"

Both boys turned to look at her. Draco looked puzzled, but Harry's expression soon brightened.

"Really? Are you sure Hermione?"

Ron approached them and asked what the girl had found.

"I'm positive. Come have a look!"

The trio wandered over to a far wall where there was a desk full of old parchments. Draco stayed behind, wondering what the Gryffindors were up to. He caught brief comments about a signature and the name Regulus Arcturus Black, which was the full name of one of his mother's cousins. He had once heard his mother mention him in a family reunion. The man had died before Draco had been borne, so he really didn't know anything about him. It seemed however that he was really important for whatever project the trio had gotten themselves into. The blond could easily identify the excitement over Granger's discovery and soon the three friends were speculating about where to find a certain locket.

Draco felt as if he had suddenly become invisible. He was so out of place there while Harry and his friends planned things he was not privy to. The boy felt a stab of sadness hit him. That was never going to be for him, that friendship, the easy way they worked together, how well and relaxed and happy they looked around each others. Draco felt the old jealousy and hatred towards Weasley and Granger return with a vengeance. Why? He had been taught that he was better than them, that they were nothing but shame to wizarding kind! Then why they could have the one thing he had always yearned? Why they could have a friendship like that when he wasn't even allowed to have someone he could trust? Why could they have Harry?

Malfoy bit his lip and clenched his fists, feeling his nails threatening to tear open the skin of his hands. No friends for him, and certainly not Harry Potter. He wasn't needed among the three friends. Quietly, the Slytherin left the potion's lab and walked to his room, having no desire to let others see the few tears that escaped his eyes. He really doubted that they would notice his absence.

* * *

It was already time for dinner and Harry was happily walking the corridors towards Malfoy's room. The trio had had a talk with Kreacher and confirmed that Sirius' brother had been their mysterious R.A.B. They had the real Slytherin's locket now and he had finally reached an understanding with the old elf. Now they had to find a safe way of destroying the two horcruxes they had. Harry had disposed of Riddle's diary-horcrux in his second year at Hogwarts using a basilisk's fang, but that weapon was definitely out of their reach. They knew that destroying the horcruxes would not be simple and Harry didn't want to end up with a burned arm like Dumbledore. They needed a safe way to destroy the things. In the meanwhile they were going to search for Ravenclaw's item, so Nagini would be their last objective.

Harry was satisfied that things were turning out well, soon he would be able to confront Voldemort and the Order would defeat him without fear of the bastard coming back again.

He knocked on the room's door and entered. Malfoy was sitting on an old armchair that he had confiscated from the ex-drawing room, with a book of potions again. Harry was starting to dislike those potion's books, they have started to remind him a bit too much of Snape.

"Hey Malfoy. Dinner's ready."

Draco had realized that Harry was entering his bedroom the moment Severus' book had returned to be a potion's one. He sighed and pretended to continue reading while he heard Potter approach him. He was still feeling a bit depressed and didn't want to see anyone at the moment. He wasn't even in the mood to properly feel the effects of the lust spell between him and Harry. He just wanted to be alone with Sally's presence all around him like a blanket. Of course, Potter would have another idea and surely would insist on him dinning with the rest of the Gryffindors. Draco only wanted to pretend that Harry's friends didn't exist.

"I'm not hungry. I'm just going to read a bit more before going to bed. It's no big deal."

Potter narrowed his eyes slightly at the boy, who had not looked at him yet. Then he scowled and bit his lip.

"There's no need for you to stay here all alone."

"Well, there's no need for me to go down either, so what would be the difference Potter?"

Harry was slightly taken aback by the hurt tone that he noticed in Malfoy's words. He raised his eyebrows and speculated why Malfoy would be sulking, because he supposed that that was what the other boy was doing. Maybe it was something to do with having abandoned him earlier without even a second glance. Harry felt a bit guilty about that, but he had not really considered that he could have hurt Malfoy's feelings. He had been too excited about finding out R.A.B., and a bit too happy to have an excuse to stop the little chat with Malfoy. The distraction had succeeded in making him forget about Malfoy being gay and the preposterous dream he had have, featuring things he normally dreamt of about a girl. He simply had forgotten everything concerning the blond.

"Hey, is this about the potions' lab? Malfoy? I… I'm sorry…"

"No need to apologize Potter. I'm only here because I'm your charity case, I get it. There's no need to pretend that I'm welcome among your friends."

Harry clenched his fists in annoyance. He never intended to make Draco a "charity case" and he felt offended that the other boy would think so. He put his hands over the open book, making Malfoy to look at him with a tired expression.

"Look Malfoy, I never intended for you to feel that way. I don't want you to hang with us just out of pity."

Malfoy raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Please, if not pity what else could be? You have no reason to care about my wellbeing."

"I don't need a reason to care, Malfoy."

The blond inclined his head to the side slightly, still unbelieving.

"Look, I'm sorry about earlier. It's just that we got carried away, there's this big thing that we have to do..." Harry bit his lower lip for a moment. He didn't know why he felt the need to explain to Malfoy what they had been doing. He knew that he couldn't tell the blond exactly what they were looking for, but he wanted to share something. He felt that the other boy had earned as much of his trust as that. "It's somewhat dangerous, but it's really important that we get it done as soon as possible, and then we'll be able to defeat Voldemort for good! No one knows about this, if we don't manage to do it quickly we'll lose more people and every attempt to kill Voldemort will fail. But it's really important that no one knows. It's something complicated and we don't have time to deal with others wanting explanations. We can't afford them trying to stop us either."

Draco pressed his lips in a thin line. He wanted to tell Harry exactly how much secrecy his important task actually enjoyed. He wondered why no one cared that the trio were waking their brains and undoubtedly getting into serious trouble. Moody had told him that they were capable of doing the deed, whatever it was, and that someone was keeping an eye on them so they weren't seriously injured, but still Malfoy thought that a little help couldn't hurt. He sighed in defeat and shook his head after a few seconds of consideration. Moody would kill him if he told Harry that at least one other person knew exactly what the trio was doing.

"Ok Potter, you don't have to explain things to me. I'm just feeling depressed, so if you don't mind I'm really not in the mood to go down."

"And you prefer to stay here sulking? I bet that you're hungry. Why not just go with us?"

Malfoy shrugged. He was feeling better now; Harry's proximity had somehow eased him. He blamed it on the lust spell, but he accepted that he was reassured by the fact that Harry had actually tried to explain himself to him. He just didn't want to face the rest of the Gryffindors at the moment. Of course Harry would not see things his way; the brunette huffed and grabbed the potions' book, carelessly tossing it at the bed. Draco was slightly horrified to see this.

"Potter, what're you doing?"

"If you're depressed you certainly can't stay here alone. Besides, I don't know what you see about potions."

Harry took Malfoy's hand and pulled him to his feet. The blond was too shocked to resist at first, but he tried to recover quickly.

"You only say that because you're hopeless at them. And I don't remember agreeing to go with you!"

"Nonsense Malfoy, you spoiled rich boy, I'm not going to let you sulk."

"Who appointed you as my mother Potter?"

The Gryffindor stuck out his tongue at the blond and then grinned and continued pulling him. Malfoy sighed in defeat and let himself be dragged downstairs. He didn't understand Potter's apparent need for his presence at meals, but he was somewhat amused by the brunette's insistence. It seemed that things were back to routine; at least Harry hadn't run away screaming from him. Apparently, the Gryffindor still wanted to be his friend. Draco fully intended to use that to his advantage.

* * *

Dinner was proving to be a painful experience. Harry cursed his good intentions for the hundredth time since he and Malfoy had entered the kitchen. He should have left the blond upstairs to sulk in peace. He simply had not expected Ginny to be there. Apparently Remus and the twins had gone to the Burrow to get dinner before flooing to headquarters and Ginny had decided to return with them. She had gotten into her mind that she had to do something to keep Malfoy at bay, seeing that no one else seemed to be properly concerned about the blond. Presently she was succeeding in making the lot of them uncomfortable with her comments.

"Really Harry, when one finds a venomous snake, one usually kills it, not keep it as a pet."

The twins were trying to be oblivious to the tension in the table and to the hateful glare Harry was presently giving their sister. Fred looked over at Malfoy and grinned.

"Hey pet! Would you pass along the salt?"

"Oh, I don't know. Aren't you worried I might bite you Weasley? You could end up poisoned." Draco answered coolly. The girl was doing an incredible job of putting him on edge, but he'll be damned if he show her that. The twin's grin grew.

"Oh, don't worry little snaky. I've been bitten by worse."

Ginny looked outraged at her brother.

"It's not a joke Fred! Dangerous animals should be put out or kept in a cage if they are absolutely necessary! More so if they're carrying a disease! You never know if they'd have you contaminated!"

The twins and Remus were slightly confused at that, and Harry blushed in embarrassment. Remus started to tense, Draco could feel it because he was sitting beside him. The blond felt Sally growl a warning inside him. She didn't like to be near an upset werewolf. Granger, who was at Remus' other side felt the tension too and attempted to shut up the ginger girl.

"You know Ginny? A lot of inconsiderate people say that about werewolves, without even take the time to see that perfect decent human beings may suffer from the disease."

"It's not the same Hermione! Besides, you can hardly say that Greyback shouldn't be caged, do you?"

"Well no, but the point is…"

"When someone has proven what a waste of a person he really is, there's nothing to do but to put him among the scum where he belongs! Especially when he's a danger to people around him!"

She was glaring pointedly at Malfoy while saying this and the boy was doing a special effort to not rise to the bait and faking to be too interested in eating his chicken salad to notice. Harry on the other hand was clenching his fists so hard he could feel his bones trying to crack. Remus narrowed his eyes at both boys.

"Have something happened that I should be aware of?"

"Nothing has happened Remus" said Harry hurriedly, Ginny immediately huffed.

"Nothing, just the fact that we have a viper in our midst, one that wouldn't admit how much of a freak he really is!"

"I could be upstairs in my room, with a nice potions' book…" Malfoy muttered under his breath in a way that only Harry could hear him. The Gryffindor groaned and turned to look at him apologetically while George answered to the girl.

"Calm down Ginny. Don't you think you're taking this too personal?"

"And how would you want me to take it? Someone is trying to infect my future boyfriend beyond repair!"

Ron almost chocked with his pumpkin juice and Hermione looked scandalized. Harry's embarrassment came back with a vengeance and he wished the floor to swallow him. Fred leaned over the table to look at Malfoy.

"What did you do? Could it be that you got a strange variation of dragon pox?"

Malfoy shrugged in a noncommittal way and answered as aloof as he could.

"Nothing so colourful I'm afraid, I only happen to prefer men instead of women."

There was an instant of shocked silence while everyone processed what Malfoy had said. Ron was gaping at the blond and Harry suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Really, it wasn't as if the red-headed boy had been far away when Malfoy had told him the news earlier that day. Harry had been sure that his friends had overheard their little conversation, but apparently only Hermione had done so, seeing that she was the only one, besides Harry, who didn't seem in the least surprised. After a few seconds the twins frowned and looked lost. Finally, Fred asked.

"Ooook, you're gay and…?"

Malfoy raised an eyebrow at him.

"Would you want me to demonstrate?"

"No, I just mean…"

"…is that all?" finished George. Ginny looked at her brothers in disbelief.

"What do you mean all? Do you want more?"

"Well, by the way you were saying it we…"

"…were starting to think that Malfoy…"

"…had somehow managed to get bitten by a werewolf…"

"…or, possibly, a vampire."

"Frankly, I was thinking along the same lines." Said Remus seriously. "Tonks had told me that you had had some kind of problems yesterday with a burst of magic, but she had made it sound like it was nothing serious. I was starting to think that she had not wanted to worry me."

Remus relaxed a little, but he still was narrowing his eyes at Ginny. Inside of Draco, Sally was slightly more at ease, sensing that the werewolf's wrath was more likely directed at the red-headed girl. As long as her human was not in danger, she didn't mind the werewolf too much anymore. She was already used to his scent.

Ginny was deeply upset and glared at the audience in general.

"I'm sure that Malfoy's condition is even worse than been a dark creature."

Hermione and Harry opened their mouths in disbelief. Ron and the twins pressed their lips uncomfortably. Remus tensed again and said with a bit of resentment.

"I'll hardly say that "worse" would be the proper word."

"Actually, compared to him, you're really lucky Remus." Said Ginny, apparently not noticing the intention of Lupin's words. The rest of the youngsters were too shocked to react until Malfoy commented dryly.

"Of course that's the way a proper pureblood thinks. My father would have been pleased to know that even the Weasleys share as much of his beliefs."

The entire table looked at him grimacing, but no one debated the point. Harry quirked an eyebrow in askance, but the blond only shrugged.

"He told me once that he would rather have a werewolf in the house than a gay son."

"Why?" asked Harry, rather put out.

"Well, he said that at least a werewolf have no qualms in having an heir the normal way. Like a decent living thing."

Harry scowled; he was not surprised that Lucius Malfoy, as his usual snobbing prick, had put down his son's feelings like that. However, it wasn't Lucius Malfoy the one presently ruining their dinner. Ginny reminded him of that particular fact the next instant.

"So, even his father knows he's a disgrace. What do you think now Harry?"

Ginny looked smug. Draco felt tempted to smirk; surely she thought that the news of him been gay was a surprise to Harry too. He fervently hoped that she would be the one to get a nasty surprise. Harry looked at her severely.

"I don't see how it's anyone's business what Malfoy likes but his own."

Ginny pressed her lips in annoyance. That was not the answer she had been expecting. She had hoped that Harry would react with disgust at Malfoy's proximity now that he knew that she had been right about Malfoy's "condition", but Harry was acting as if that wasn't a big deal. In fact, Harry had not even tried to get away from Malfoy. He was still sitting beside him, far too close for Ginny's liking.

"But surely now you see the need to keep him well away from you. Who knows…?"

"As far as I understand Ginny, homosexuality is not a disease. Malfoy here just happens to like guys better than girls. And it's not like he had suddenly changed preferences from one day to another. I don't see why my knowing that he's gay should change my attitude towards him."

Harry thanked the gods that he had had practically all day to assimilate the news. Truth be told, he had had a shock learning that the boy was gay, as demonstrated by his earlier urge to stop their conversation in the potion's lab. But he would be damned if he started to shun out Malfoy because of it. He was not like that. He didn't want to be like those people who were perfect friends with someone until the time they learned about their sexual preferences and then just evaded them like the plague. He had seen it happen once, when he had been nine years old. One of the neighbours that had used to help his uncle with the car suddenly had had the idea of walking around the street hand in hand with his boyfriend. Uncle Vernon had gone from praising the man for his mechanical skills to forbid his name to be mentioned in the house, demanding everyone to forget that he had even looked in the direction of the man once. Harry was not going to do that. He didn't care if Malfoy liked other boys; the blonde still was his guest. Besides, he had helped the blonde when he still had had the suspicion that he might be a Death Eater! To despise him now for being gay was just stupid.

Remus smiled at Harry, feeling proud of the young boy. Malfoy smirked at Ginny, who was gaping at the black-haired Gryffindor. Ron was scowling at his friend and suddenly realization came to him. After all, he knew Harry fairly well to just know that his friend should be as shocked as he was at the moment.

"You already knew!"

Ginny closed her mouth and turned to look at her brother quizzically. Harry shrugged and smiled at his surprised friend.

"How…? I mean… Malfoy didn't exactly admit it earlier!"

Harry sighed and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Honestly Ronald! I can not believe that you didn't hear at least part of their little conversation while we were in the potion's lab! Harry was quite vocal in his surprise!"

Harry blushed a bit and Malfoy arched an eyebrow. Ron looked from Hermione to Harry and Malfoy and back again to Hermione.

"You also knew!"

Hermione shook her head in defeat and Malfoy snickered.

"Well, he was under a table at the moment."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Ron demanded. Hermione looked at him with incredulity.

"I didn't think much of it, and if you remember, we had other _more important_ things to do." She accentuated the "more important" part and Ron was about to snap to her, but suddenly remembered what exactly she was talking about and shut his mouth.

"Oh."

"Oh indeed."

Ginny however was not to be deterred as easily.

"You knew! And you let Harry near him?"

"As Harry already pointed out Ginny, Malfoy doesn't have a disease…"

"What do you call it then? Only freakiness? He's abnormal! And he shouldn't be allowed near normal people like us! And you…!" Ginny glared at her three brothers. "You should be of the same opinion! He is a danger to you too!"

Ron paled dramatically but the twins huffed and lifted their chins.

"Last we checked, gay doesn't mean rapist, if that is what you mean Ginny." Said Fred, George continued their answer.

"And why do we have to think like you? We're not that closed minded!"

Ginny made a face of disgust.

"Ah yes, I forgot your little friend Lee Jordan. I won't be surprised if you two are a bit contaminated. It's not a secret that mother is starting to worry about you."

Fred glared at her sister but George calmed him with a hand and smiled at her.

"What would you think of us sister if we decided to screw Jordan instead of Angelina? Surely that would be a sight to be remembered."

Ron turned a bit green. Ginny's expression grew sombre. Harry actually gaped at her when she answered.

"You'll cease to be Weasleys that day. You very well know that."

Then her venomous glare returned to Malfoy.

"You are a disgrace and you know it. You have no right to be here and even less to be near Harry! You're not worthy to be close any decent person! You belong with the lowest kind of creatures! And if you were a true human you'd be ashamed of yourself enough to spare us your very presence!"

"That's enough Ginny!"

Remus put his hands on the table and stood, effectively silencing the girl. Malfoy was grateful for that because Sally had started to growl at the girl some time ago. Sally had picked up on the fact that Draco was growing upset each time the ginger-girl opened her mouth and by the time of the girl's last hateful remark, the dragon wanted nothing more than to attack her. Draco closed his eyes briefly, trying to concentrate in soothing Sally. It would not do to have another "accident" with his magic right now. He could feel Harry's concerned eyes on him while Lupin firmly dismissed them all.

"I think that you lot should go upstairs and leave both of us alone."

"But Remus…"

"I'm going to have a word with you Ginny. And after that, I really think I should have a talk with your parents. It seems that I have a little misconception about how prejudiced the Weasleys really are."

Malfoy and Harry were the first to be out of the kitchen, followed closely by the twins. Ron seemed about to comment but Hermione silenced him and pulled him from his seat, following the rest of the youngsters. Ginny looked at Remus a bit in shock and the werewolf looked at her with disappointment. He had been the target of discrimination far too often in his life and was not about to tolerate it in front of him. He would be sure to inform Ginny of that.

* * *

Malfoy felt Harry's hand on his back and turned to him before opening the door to his room. The boy's green eyes were worried.

"You ok?"

The blond boy smiled ruefully and shook his head.

"Come on Potter, after hearing what my father had to say about my choices, do you really think that the Weasley bint's words mean anything?"

Harry only continued looking. Finally Draco smiled.

"Look, she said nothing that I hadn't heard before in my own house. I really don't care about her opinion."

"Fine. I just want to be sure that you're not going to get all sulky again."

Draco lifted an eyebrow.

"Too worried about my self esteem are you Potter?"

Harry blushed and smiled.

"I used to think that you had far too much of that."

Draco smirked and was about to open his bedroom's door when he was assaulted by two red-heads. Each of them threw an arm around his shoulders while turning him around. Malfoy was a bit panicked and looked at Harry, who was mildly surprised.

"Oii Malfoy, we don't want you to start thinking…"

"…that we share our sister's point of view."

"She's a bit psychotic right now."

"And we don't want you saying that we are all like Lucius Malfoy just from what she said!"

Draco didn't know how to react, he hadn't expected any of the Weasleys to worry about their sister's little act. Harry's huff of annoyance distracted him.

"She's more than a 'bit' psycho! She has totally lost it! I really don't know what her problem is!"

Even Draco looked at Harry in a condescending way. Ron, who had just arrived alongside Hermione, rolled his eyes.

"What?"

"Honestly Harry!" said Hermione, crossing her arms. "Do you think Ginny would be so riled if she thought that Malfoy was after Neville?"

Everyone looked at her open mouthed, Ron immediately turned green.

"Geez Hermione! I didn't need that mental image!"

The twins grinned and turned to the blond boy still trapped between them.

"Well…"

"…we certainly are not Neville…"

"…not Harry either…"

"…but if you want a bit of fun Malfoy…"

"…we may be… accommodating."

And without pause they both leaned on and kissed each one of Draco's cheeks noisily.

"Just be sure Angelina doesn't know." Said Fred, winking at him.

The twins laughed and hurried down the hall to their bedroom, leaving four very shocked youngsters behind. Malfoy was the first to utter a word after the twins were out of view.

"Ok. Now I'm scared."

"You and me both." Said Harry, starting to feel beyond upset. Ron suddenly exploded.

"I can't believe it! Those two pervs! Maybe Ginny was right, I should tell mom about…!"

"Oh, for God's sake Ron!" said Hermione, looking at all three of them exasperated. "We all know them! They're not serious! They're only joking!"

She said it with firm conviction and no one of the boys dared to question her. Besides, all of them rather wanted to believe her every word.

"Anyway, it's getting late and we still have some research to do." She turned to Ron and Harry meaningfully. "We better get started."

She said her goodnights to Malfoy and turned around in the direction of the library. Ron grumped and looked at the blond with narrowed eyes.

"Just don't get any ideas in that evil mind of yours Malfoy. Don't even think about accepting their offer!"

"Ron! Not you too!" Said Harry, glaring at his friend.

"It's only a precaution!"

Ron raised his hands in surrender and with a last glare in Malfoy's direction followed Hermione. Harry passed his hands through his hair.

"I can't believe it."

"Well, this day has been full of surprises Potter. I think you should go with your friends, it seems that you three have something important going on."

"Yeah. I think Hermione's right, the twins must be joking." He looked worriedly at the other end of the hall and pressed his lips. Malfoy smirked at him.

"Come on Potter. Even if they meant it, I'm not too much for threesomes, I assure you."

"It's not that, is just…" Harry blushed uncomfortably at the very vivid picture that popped in his mind. He groaned and looked at Malfoy apologetically. "It's all pretty awkward right now."

"It's ok Potter. No need to worry about me. I won't go around trying to sleep with everyone. I do have my standards."

Harry rolled his eyes mockingly and felt more relaxed.

"Like a good Malfoy."

"That's right Potter. Now, have a good night. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah. Good night Malfoy."

The blond disappeared inside his room and Harry sighed in exhaustion. He looked one last time at the way the twins had gone and frowned.

He didn't know what was happening to him, but the idea of Malfoy accepting the twins' weird proposition extremely worried him. But really, they were playing fools right? And anyway it was really not his business if Malfoy decided to have a bit of fun. Harry crossed his arms in annoyance and glared at the empty hallway. Then he quickly took out his wand and put a ward around Malfoy's bedroom that would alert him if someone other than the Slytherin crossed the threshold. After that, he decided to ask Moody to put an anti-aparition ward the very next day, for good measure. Satisfied, he finally started his way to the library. The twins may not be serious, but who could tell if they'll think another kind of jokes after all?


	11. Decisions

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Author's note:** This is unbetaed. Unfortunately I've been really busy and probably it will be some time before the next update.

**Chapter 10.** **Decisions.**

The talk with Remus wasn't pleasant. The werewolf got a nasty surprise in discovering that Arthur Weasley was one hell of a homophobic. Harry and Hermione were particularly shocked by that revelation. Malfoy wasn't so surprised, after all the Weasleys were one of the oldest pureblooded families. The fact that Mr. Weasley was an admirer of all things muggle didn't mean that he had not learned the proper ways and the traditions of the purebloods. It was clear that Arthur's family had not overlooked giving his son certain views about sexuality. Harry was disappointed and hurt when Mr. Weasley refused to talk about the matter or hear anyone's opinion. The man walked away from the talk with Remus furious, something that Malfoy was sure was a sight to be remembered, and murderously glared at them all while telling them exactly what he thought about homosexuality. Then he immediately flooed away, not giving any of them time to think of a proper answer.

Mrs. Weasley was most upset and mortified. She apologized profusely for his husband's and daughter's attitude and practically ran after Mr. Weasley, promising to talk to him.

The Weasleys were not seen for the remainder of the day, not even Ron. It wasn't until the following day that Mrs. Weasley arrived early at breakfast to give them an explanation of sorts.

Arthur Weasley had been in fact raised in a household that, while open minded about some things like acceptance of muggleborns and magical creatures in general, encouraged homophobia at its worst. Purebloods as a whole just didn't accept homosexuality, based in the fact that a same sex mating could not have children. Most of the pureblooded families cherished children, seeing them as the ones who will continue the line and kept wizarding kind from weakness. Pureblooded families took great pride on their children. Even when the majority of the arranged marriages, which were almost the rule, didn't enjoy the luxury of love, the marriage contract stipulated that the couple must produce at least one heir. The magical contracts were designed to assure the continuity of a family line. It didn't prevent infidelity, but if a bastard child was produced before a true heir of the two bloodlines involved, the marriage automatically was dissolved. Of course, the concept of a surrogate existed; sometimes there were couples incapable to have children for any reason. These couples often required the services of a surrogate, but such solution was not terrible popular and it was considered a scandal by the ancient families. Pureblooded society was too narrow minded concerning family. If a couple couldn't produce children in five years, the marriage contract was null and it was extremely difficult for the ex-couple to find other partners, especially for the women.

On that context, homosexuality was the worst kind of betrayal to both traditions and family. Same gender couples were fairly tolerated in the wizarding world in general, but totally despised and hated by purebloods, which considered such couples the worst of the blood traitors. The old families had gotten the crazy and completely misguided idea that homosexuality was a way to refuse to have children and a normal family. In their eyes, they were condemning the wizarding world to extinction.

Even in modern times things had not changed in that aspect and Arthur Weasley firmly embraced his family's beliefs. Molly had known about a grand-aunt of her husband, Arista, that had ran away with the woman she loved and had been estranged from the family, which had refused to acknowledge to even know her. They never accepted the little girl that Arista had had; saying that having paid a surrogate for assistance was only proof that she didn't respect the family traditions.

Malfoy listened politely to Mrs. Weasley without comment. He had known already all of that and had accepted a long time ago the fact that he was condemned to be a pariah. Potter and Granger on the other side were absolutely appalled. The girl immediately stood and started to rant about the injustice of such a view and how the purebloods had no brains at all and other number of things too fast for Malfoy to follow. Potter was clearly upset and Draco worried about his reaction. The Gryffindor boy was rubbing his hands nervously and his lips were tightly pressed. The blond tentatively reached over and put a hand on his shoulder. The other boy tensed under his touch and Draco narrowed his eyes, cursing the Weasleys for the sole fact that they were almost family to Potter and the boy clearly cared about their opinion.

He retired his hand with hurt but Potter quickly reached over and took it in his. Malfoy looked in question but Harry only squeezed his hand without turning to him and asked shyly what Mrs. Weasley's personal opinion on the matter was. Granger didn't hear her friend's low question, she was still pacing the sitting room and muttering to herself, quite agitated, but Mrs. Weasley had noticed Potter's anguish and hurried to his side to reassure him, telling the boy that not everyone thought that way. There were many wizards a lot more open minded; even some purebloods were slowly accepting the idea that a family doesn't have to be "normal" to function. Her family for example, the Prewetts, had been one of the first pureblooded families to not reject a homosexual member. She appeared to be very proud of the fact that her parents had not estranged her brother Gideon when he had confessed to them his sexual preferences. They had been of course deeply shocked, but had accepted their son's choice and supported him. That seemed to put Harry at ease and he smiled to Mrs. Weasley, giving another tiny squeeze to Malfoy's hand before letting it go.

Draco was bemused by the Gryffindors' reactions and strangely grateful to Molly Weasley. Unfortunately, the majority of her children followed their father's lead. Percy and Ginny were the ones most zealous about it. Ron and Bill were a bit more discrete, they could perhaps tolerate the idea that homosexuality existed but were hard pressed to accept it in close proximity. They would rather think that it was some kind of disease that one could cure purely by force of will. Charlie was pressed lipped about it, but apparently he had no problems with acceptance. He had been the only one who hadn't yelled at the twins when the family had discovered that their friend Jordan was gay.

The twins had had many rows with their father, refusing to stop hanging out with their friend and even accusing him of being as prejudiced as the snob purebloods. Molly was actually worried about them, but not because she thought that their friend could "infect" them as Ginny had suggested, but for the fact that they were so stubborn. They may get themselves into a gay relationship just to prove a point to their father and not because that was what they really wanted.

Mrs. Weasley assured them that she had talked with her husband, Ginny and Ron, and they weren't going to cause troubles. Draco didn't believe that, but Harry and Hermione were confident that they could convince Ron to be more accepting. Malfoy knew that the red-haired boy's opinion mattered a great deal to Harry, so he sighed in tiredness and tried to accept the fact that he would have more troubles that he had anticipated in his perusal of Potter.

* * *

Malfoy was finishing the brewing of some Pepperup potion. The potions lab was again well supplied and the boy was looking forward some serious brewing. He was a bit nervous. The Order of the Phoenix in full was having a meeting at that moment, regarding the recent reunion with the goblins and minor attacks on the Death Eaters' part. McGonagall had wanted to reveal Draco's presence in the house to the rest of the Order, but Moody had refused. There were several members of the Order that would not be pleased to find Malfoy at headquarters. Besides, they weren't sure anymore about the loyalty of a few members. Things had really gone from bad to worse since Dumbledore's death for the Order.

On a brighter side, Harry and McGonagall had successfully reached an agreement with the goblins. The strict creatures had agreed to help the fight against the dark side, with a few conditions. They had adamantly refused to deal with the Ministry of Magic, being less than impressed about the incompetence of the Aurors at finding the Death Eaters or at least doing something to assure the security of the public. The goblins will help, but the sanctity of the vaults at Gringotts had to be maintained at all costs. Malfoy could feel that the situation was very tense. Everybody was expecting some grand move on the Dark Lord's part, but no one was really doing anything to prevent it.

Draco didn't understand the lack of action on the light's side. It looked like the only ones doing something remotely useful were Harry and his two sidekicks, as they were actually looking for a way to terminate the Dark Lord definitely. He hoped that someone would see fit to help them soon.

For the time being, he was still reduced to confinement in Grimmauld place, but he was taking advantage of it. Especially concerning his attempts to win Potter over and picking the Gryffindor's curiosity.

As it turned out, Draco's worries were unfounded. The Weasley's had actually been of great help to his goal of getting closer to Harry. Mrs. Weasley's talk had helped the boy to understand matters and had readily embarked him in a mission. The Gryffindor had been worried about Mr. Weasley and Ron's convictions, but had been confident that, with a little patience, his best friend would come to see things different. He would have Granger's help with that and they were actually trying to include Malfoy on their activities. So far, the Weasley boy still had to talk a word to the blond. However, Ginny's attitude had proven to be the most useful for Draco's plans.

In the two days that had followed the meeting with Remus, the girl had demonstrated how deeply upset she was by the turn of events and had complained loudly about how her own mother couldn't see the danger that Malfoy represented and how her father was incapable to stand firm before his wife. She had taken every opportunity to remind Harry of all the horrible things that Draco had done at school, even his part in the Death Eater's attack that had ended in Dumbledore's dead and Bill's disfigurement. Draco had had to endure the death glares and the tongue lashing that Ginny sprouted at him as soon as he was in hearing range. But he didn't mind. Ginny's attacks had had the effect of making Harry annoyed and stubborn. The dark-haired Gryffindor had decided that talking with Ginny was useless and so he had taken to stay by Draco's side constantly. Even hugging the blond with one arm while they listened to Ginny's outraged complains. The girl's tiny brain didn't seem to grasp the fact that her words were having the opposite effect to the one she wanted. Harry was set into demonstrate to the entire world that he was not gonna let himself be prejudiced and Ginny's attitude was only succeeding in making him do the very thing she didn't want him to.

Ron had tried to talk with his sister. He knew Harry too well to know that Ginny was making things worse as the black-haired boy already considered Malfoy as the victim. But Ginny hadn't understood and had dismissed her brother's advice as rubbish to Ron's despair. The Weasley boy knew that both Potter and Granger didn't approve of any kind of prejudice and for once was using his brain cells and was keeping quiet on the matter. However, he did glare at Malfoy from time to time and it was a bit too obvious that he was doing an effort to tolerate the blonde's proximity, but at least he was trying to maintain peace and Hermione was very proud of him.

Malfoy wasn't complaining. The Weasley girl was making things easier for him and Ronald was not likely to interfere any time soon. With a bit of luck he could have Potter asking for a little "experimentation" soon enough. He just needed one time and, if he manipulated things well enough, maybe he would have the chance to salvage the incipient friendship between them.

Draco had decided to risk it. He was going to press his luck and ask Severus for the potion he had to take to help initiate the change that would enable him to get pregnant. Once his body was ready he would have a month to get laid, or the effect will recede and he'll be forced to wait another two months to try again. This was because the male body was not meant to have extra internal organs and the strain it take to maintain them was too much. Once pregnant however, Sally would cast a special spell to protect his womb and the baby, so he could carry it to term. Malfoy was still more than a bit unsure about the whole procedure, but he was convinced that he had to do it quickly or he would risk loosing Sally for ever and he refused to think too much about the situation or he would have more doubts. He was thinking about how he'd manage to get to the secret chamber that night while he waited for the potion to cool, when Harry entered the lab, a worried frown on his face.

"How was the meeting?"

"Well… I don't know. I have the distinct impression that their plan is to wait until I'm grown up and then let me do the work! It's fucking frustrating! I know what the prophesy says! I know that I have to be the one to finish Voldemort off! But I refuse to do THEIR work!"

Draco remembered in time that he wasn't supposed to know about the prophesy and put on a confused face.

"Prophesy?"

"Err… well, yes. It's what your father was looking for the day he was arrested. In a nutshell, it sets Voldemort and me for one to kill the other. 'No one can live while the other survives' that's part of what it says."

"Well, I think it's rubbish. Why the entire light side are depending on a prophesy to act? And what's that bit about doing their work?"

"Oh, the majority of them had already envisioned my life. I'm to spend a couple of years hiding here or in another safe location and I would be ready to face Voldemort when I'm at least twenty. Then I'll be head auror and finish the remaining Death Eaters that could have escaped, and after that I'm somehow going to put the pureblood society in its place and correct it, and while doing that I'm going to repair the Ministry's international relations and help to make things better with the magical creatures. Finally I'm going to be Minister of magic and make a happy and perfect wizarding world. How's that?"

Draco had an incredulous look on his face.

"As I said before. Complete rubbish."

"Yeah, well that was what McGonagall and Remus said too."

"That would be accounted as having common sense. I don't understand. One would think that the Order would be anxious to finish the Dark Lord."

"Apparently Dumbledore left a whole set of precautions and steps to be taken and the Order is taking them pretty seriously. You know? For someone that was killed, I think that he was pretty much expecting it."

Harry had started to pace back and forth and Malfoy frowned at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, first of all, this place is under fidelius. Dumbledore was the secret keeper, but some days before the Death Eaters attacked he changed places with Moody. You already know he's the only one who can speak of the place freely."

"Yes." Draco had already been told about the fidelius. He was inside the house because Harry had dragged him while unconscious; if he left the house he wouldn't be able to find it again. At least that was what the majority of the Order thought. Draco was forbidden to tell Harry that Moody had already told him the location of Grimmauld Place.

"The Order considered that to be pretty strange. Also there is this whole set of recommendations about what has to be done, and clear instructions to leave me pretty well alone while training. I think he was trying to give me time to find the… umm, to do what is necessary to finish Voldemort without interference."

"And that is strange? The man knew the dangers of a war; he was well prepared for every eventuality."

"Oh, yes. But there is still another thing. Today, before the meeting started, I was sent to find Remus and McGonagall and I caught a piece of conversation…"

"Oh?"

"They were talking about Snape…" Harry had started to bit his lower lip and Malfoy felt the need to reassure him. He approached the boy and took his hand. Lately it seemed that Harry was more at ease when Malfoy touched him. The dark-haired boy relaxed a bit.

"I didn't quite understand everything they were saying… it was something about Snape and a pensieve… and how Dumbledore had been foolish to not have said anything… and that Snape may be needing help but…"

"Yes?" Draco prompted.

"I-I don't understand why we would consider giving help to that…! That…! Murderous bastard!"

Draco frowned and thought about Harry's dilemma. He had been told what had really happened between Dumbledore and Snape. The old man had been already dying. Salamanca had said that Dumbledore should have died the day his dragon had been slain. So close had been their bond. But the old man had needed to do something to ensure that the portal could be opened again and with fierce determination he had managed to survive, but at great cost on his magic. The fight against the Dark Lord and the effort that took to find and destroy an important artefact that assured part of the Dark Lord's immortality had been fatal to the old wizard. He would have died whether Snape had cast the Avada Kedabra or not. The only difference was that Snape was still one of the few in the Dark Lord's favour and that had allowed him to help Draco. The blonde considered what to tell Harry, who was clearly upset about his mentor's demise.

"I think that there's something that they had not told you. Maybe it's safer to follow Dumbledore's indications. The man should have known what he was doing?"

Harry gave a painful sigh and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Everyone keeps telling me the same, but it's quite difficult when the man is dead."

Malfoy gave Harry's hand a sympathetic squeeze and pulled him towards his work station.

"Stop thinking so much Potter. You're already doing all you can, everything's gonna be fine. Come; help me to get the potion in those vials, would you?"

"What's this?"

"Pepperup potion. I'm going to make some blood-replenishing one next."

They emptied the cauldron and filled the vials. They had just finished when McGonagall and Hermione entered the lab. The older witch revised the potion that Draco had made and offered to help with the blood-replenishing one, while Granger took Harry away to discuss some important matters.

* * *

Draco looked worriedly at the vial of pain-killer potion that Snape had given him. It was night and he was completely alone in the big house, well except for the elves, but the creatures hardly counted in this case. There had been some kind of emergency that no one had explained to him and all the adults were far away and had strictly ordered them to not leave the house and to wait patiently for someone to return to tell them what had happened.

The golden trio of course had turn tail as soon as the last adult had left the house. For them this was a great opportunity to go in search of another "item" and they were not about to waste it. Ginny had been confined to the Burrow due to Harry finally getting enough of her nasty comments and pleaded Mrs. Weasley to not let her come until the adults returned. That, Draco had discovered later, was Harry's way of keeping Ginny from discovering they were gone. Harry didn't trust the girl to stay behind quietly and he was not going to take her with them.

It had been only the first day without the trio and Moody had calculated that Draco had at least two nights before they returned. The blond had spent the day preparing all that he needed for the incantation and drunk the required potions. The ritual had been simple enough and now he could already feel the tingle of magic in his body and his very core vibrating, getting ready to start changing. He just had to drink the final vial and he could be asleep for the next thirty hours or so.

Snape had given him two vials, one he had to take immediately and the other when he waked up. The man had warned Draco that the change would not be pleasant and even with the concentrated potion he was giving him he could experiment a bit of pain. That was why it was important that he didn't forget to drink it.

Draco swallowed nervously. He was already past the point of no-return and it'll be foolish not to follow Snape's instructions, so he took the vial and emptied it quickly. Once that was done, he vanished the assortment of empty vials from his room and lay down. Soon he felt a big, scaly body curled up around him and sighed, feeling a bit more protected. Sally will help him. She won't let anything happen to him while he slept. Draco closed his eyes and let the inevitable happen.

* * *

The blond Slytherin had a moment of panic when he woke up. He couldn't feel Sally and he was more than a bit disoriented. He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself and to reach Sally's mind. There. He could barely feel it. That warm and safe presence inside him, just out of reach. Draco remembered that his dragon had prevented him about the possibility of her going dormant for a while because the drain of magic would exhaust her. Draco groaned and turned on his side. He was worried about Sally. If he didn't succeed in his attempt to get into Harry's pants in a month and they were forced to do the procedure again it could be fatal. Draco bit his lips and tried not to think about that. He could not fail. Even if he had to force things a bit, Potter was going to be in his bed before the month finished.

While he was thinking about that, the room was getting brighter. He had forgotten to close the curtains for the night. He looked at the pain-killer potion on his bedside table and sat up. He wasn't feeling any pain. In fact, he didn't feel different at all. He ran his hands all over his stomach and chest and sighed in relief. Salamanca had assured him that he wouldn't grow breasts but he wasn't sure he trusted her. She had been a bit too happy to know that Draco wanted to do the change so soon. The blond looked again at the potion and considered his body again. His hips felt a bit sore and he was still feeling somewhat disoriented, but there wasn't actual pain. Maybe Snape had been exaggerating, after all no one had done this change thing for many years. Draco frowned at the vial and decided to leave it for an emergency.

"Dobby!"

The elf appeared in a loud "pop" and proceeded to jump excitedly.

"Yes Master Malfoy sir. What Dobby can be doing for you sir?"

"Take this and store it in the potions lab."

Dobby took the vial and sniffed at it.

"Pain potion Sir! Master feeling bad sir?"

"No, I'm fine, that's why you're gonna store it in the lab."

"Yes Master Malfoy Sir! Master Harry Potter is back sir! And Master Lupin Sir!"

"Already? Well, I suppose I'll have to get down to breakfast. You can go Dobby."

"Yes sir!"

The elf disappeared and Draco got out of bed to take a bath.

It was close to nine in the morning when Malfoy was climbing down the stairs, feeling dizzy and sorer than he had felt upon waking. However he was able to dismiss his discomfort and get to the kitchen. There was no one in sight yet and Draco walked unsteadily to a chair to wait for them.

As soon as he sat down, a sharp pain ran all over his backside and he stiffened and whimpered in surprise. Suddenly he was a bit more aware of the stress his lower half had gone through. Slowly, as the last of the effects of the potions he had drank disappeared, every bit of his inner anatomy took great care in informing him of their current state. Which was not pleasant at all. Malfoy was feeling his insides twitching in an alarming way. When they had told him that his inner anatomy would have to change in order to allow a pregnancy he had only supposed that he would acquire more internal organs and had not given any thought to what exactly that implied. After all, how much different the inner anatomy of a girl could be to that of a boy? He was discovering the hard way that it wasn't just a matter of growing extra organs. The ones that were already there had to be 'pushed' aside in order to make room for the new additions and the result were very sore entrails that were at the moment screaming to him. Even the bones had changed. Draco was sure that his hipbone had cracked and somehow enlarged before healing again wrongly.

Draco let his head drop to the table and cursed himself for being so stupid! Had life not already taught him to never dismiss Snape's advice? But No! He had gone and do it again! And now he wasn't sure that he could walk upstairs again! The pain was getting worse by the minute. He was sore in places that usually aren't even felt! He could swear that his kidney was rubbing his lungs painfully! He didn't know how he had managed to climb down the stairs and could not phantom why it had seemed a good idea to come to the kitchen for breakfast in the first place! As if anyone would notice that something was wrong with him if he just had decided to stay in bed!

He was considering the possibility to kill himself when the kitchen door opened and someone entered. Just fucking great! Malfoy cringed at the high pitched voice of Granger, saying reprovingly.

"Malfoy! What are you doing? Tables are not to lay on them!"

Draco had a sudden image of his mother berating him and he shuddered, getting instantly upright. He regretted to have come down even more when he looked at the stunned faces of the three Gryffindors. He would have snapped at them but at the moment he didn't have any will to do anything at all but to stare in return.

* * *

Harry was grumpy and morosely leading his two friends down to the kitchen. The trip had been long, tiring, dangerous and completely useless. They had found an old place that used to be the winter retirement of Ravenclaw's family, but not a trace of a horcrux. They had been ready to explore another location when Dobby dutifully had warned them that the Weasleys had returned to the Burrow, which meant that whatever crisis had occupied the Order had been dealt with and they had to return in a hurry. With Dobby's help they had managed to be home just before Remus had arrived and checked on them. He had spent a restless night and was not in the mood to listen to Hermione's theories of farther places to look for the missing horcrux. Luckily Malfoy and Remus' presences at breakfast, and quite possibly Molly's arrival, would stop that particular line of conversation.

Harry smiled unconsciously thinking about the blond Slytherin. He had already constructed an easy-going friendship with the boy and he had noticed that he felt completely at ease in Malfoy's presence. He liked the Slytherin. It was good to have someone with whom to relax without worry too much about war problems. Usually Harry could do that pretty well with Ron, but lately all of Ron's worry-free time was spent with Hermione. Harry was looking forward some quiet time in Malfoy's company, he had not checked on the boy last night due to them all arriving past midnight and their own hurry to get in bed before Remus arrived. But he trusted that Malfoy had kept to his word and that he would behave as if nothing had happened in front of Remus.

He was not expecting to find the blond practically collapsed on the kitchen's table and he definitely did not like the look on said blonde's face when he looked up at Hermione's reprimand. Malfoy's face was beyond pale and the dark circles under his eyes suggested that he had not rested well if he had slept at all. He was biting his lip in a painful gesture and Harry's worry grew when the blond failed to answer them.

"Malfoy, are you sick?" said Ron, with the face of someone who could hardly believe what he was seeing.

Potter couldn't stop himself; he hurried to Malfoy's side and put the back of his hand over his forehead. Draco looked at him quizzically.

"What're you…?" the blond started to say, only to be rudely interrupted by Harry.

"Malfoy you should be in bed! I'm surprised that you came down here, usually you're so whinny. You should be whimpering in bed and begging for attention!"

"I'm not whinny and I don't beg for attention Potter!" said Draco indignantly and immediately groaned and clutched at his stomach.

Harry pulled him out of the chair, intending to drag the blond upstairs, but the movement was too fast for Draco's pained body and he almost fell to the floor. Harry's good reflexes kicked on time and he caught the boy in midair. Draco bit his lip to prevent himself from screaming and grabbed Harry's arms in a death grip. The Gryffindor helped him to regain his feet and thankfully didn't let him go. Draco was seeing stars and breathing with some difficulty. Harry panicked and put his arm around Draco's torso, trying to support him. Ron had just started to move towards them, as Malfoy looked like he would faint at any minute, when the kitchen door opened and Ginny and Molly Weasley entered. The girl stared at the two boys that were still clinging to each other and her eyes narrowed.

"Harry! What are you doing? Make him release you!"

Harry turned to look at her as if she was mad. Mrs. Weasley immediately noticed that the blond boy was shaking and deathly pale and she sprung into motion, helping Harry to sit the boy again and sending Ron to floo Madam Pomfrey while she checked the boy's temperature. Draco was so embarrassed and cursing himself for the thousand time for hadn't drunk the damn potion. What the hell had he been thinking?

Draco felt a gentle rubbing on his back and was faintly aware of hands trying to coax him to get up again. He felt dizzy and his legs were still shaking, but he tried to make the effort to stand on his own. Only to find himself grabbed and hoisted up into Harry's arms. At the first moment of panic he took hold of Harry's shirt and widened his eyes at the Gryffindor.

"Potter! I can bloody walk!"

The black-haired boy ignored him completely and started to walk towards the kitchen door and upstairs directly to Draco's room, followed by Mrs. Weasley. He deposited the blond on his bed and made room for Mrs. Weasley to continue to fuss over him. A second later Lupin joined her, wanting to know what had happened. Draco's expression was of disbelief and a bit of panic, especially when Madam Pomfrey appeared. Despite the pain Malfoy tried to say that he was fine and just hadn't slept well, but the mediwitch will have none of it and started to cast diagnostic spells while Mrs. Weasley and Remus ushered Harry out of the room. Draco was afraid of what could happen if Madam Pomfrey discovered his few changes but, to his relief, Moody appeared too and insisted to be present like everyone else while the mediwitch did her job. He nodded at Malfoy and the blond noticed the wand poking out of one of the wizard's robe sleeves. The boy felt strangely assured by that and, once panic free and still in pain, he stilled himself while the adults fretted over him.

* * *

Harry stood outside the room for a while, thinking about what could be wrong with Malfoy. He had been a bit scared when he had seen how awfully pale the boy was. Harry hoped that it wasn't something bad, he'll hate to see Malfoy convalescent. He remembered how the boy used to complain for every minor discomfort to his persona and his lips twitched in alarm. He had been enjoying his interaction with Malfoy and he really didn't want to see if the boy would revert to his old self while being sick. He shook his head and walked towards the stairs to return to the kitchen, thinking of how annoying a sick Malfoy could possible be.

He was imagining all kinds of crazy demands that Malfoy would surely put upon them, when the noise coming out of the kitchen distracted him. It seemed like there was a fight going on. Harry scowled and approached the kitchen. He could hear Ginny's voice shouting in outrage and soon could distinguish what was been said.

"… unbelievable! How could you both let him?"

"Ginny, Malfoy was about to faint! Not even the Slytherin git could be that good an actor!" Said Ron's angry voice, his explanation didn't seem to deter Ginny.

"And if he was so ill why didn't you go to assist him Ron?"

"I was going to help Harry when you and mom showed up and I was sent to floo Pomfrey!"

"Please Ginny." Hermione's voice interceded. "We all were shocked when we arrived at the kitchen. Harry just reacted faster. I don't think that Malfoy was acting, he would have known that we'll call Madam Pomfrey."

"Oh, I bet he provoked himself an illness, just so Harry had pity on him! Or used a charm!"

"And how exactly he did that charm Ginny? He doesn't have a wand!"

Harry had had enough. He was positively fuming. What the hell happened with Ginny? He entered the kitchen and caught the girl prepared to retort to her brother. Instead, she looked towards the black-haired Gryffindor and instantly her angry face changed to one of concern.

"Harry! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Ginny! Is Malfoy the one who almost collapsed!"

Ron and Hermione, seeing Harry's anger guessed that the boy had heard their little fight with Ginny and sighed in frustration when the redheaded girl didn't seem to care.

"Who gives a damn about Malfoy? Harry, you should have let him fend for himself!"

"Oh, so we should have let him pass out on the kitchen table and have breakfast while we waited for him to wake up?"

"Yes, you should Harry! You know that he would have done that very thing to you! Being the bastard he is!"

Even Ron looked open mouthed at his sister, while Harry answered.

"And what if that's what he'd do? I'm not him Ginny! And I'm not like that!"

"I know Harry! And he knows that too! That's why he's pulling all this, to get to you! And you're making it easy for him!"

"Look Ginny, I don't know what's gotten into you, but Malfoy is not pulling some strange act together!"

"How can you be so sure? He's a Slytherin! It's the kind of thing he would do to ensure his survival!"

"And what exactly do you think he's planning Ginny? We already are providing him a safe place and keeping him away from harm!"

"Oh yes, but his safety is still not fully guaranteed! There are plenty of people in our side that would want a piece of Malfoy. What better way to deter their attacks than to be seen with the boy who lived? Even better if he is believed to be something more than friends! Seeing as you don't care about that particular abnormality!"

"You are still with that idea Ginny?"

"He is trying to seduce you Harry! You're so naïve you didn't realize it!"

The girl suddenly turned to face the other girl in the room.

"I'm surprised at you Hermione! You're supposed to be smart! How come you're letting Harry walk into that bastard's manipulation?"

Hermione went red and spluttered indignantly at what the red-head had implied. But before she could regain her wits and made a coherent answer to Ginny, the door opened again and the adults entered. Mrs. Weasley looked at her daughter disapprovingly; evidently she had overheard the end of the youngsters' conversation. She didn't have time to say anything before Harry questioned them.

"How's Malfoy? I hope it's nothing serious."

"Well not really, or rather, it shouldn't be." Madam Pomfrey promptly started to explain. She bit her lips worriedly before going on. "There's nothing actually wrong with him…"

"Ha! I knew it!" interrupted Ginny. "He's faking it, doesn't he?"

"Ginny! Be more considerate!"

"But mom…!"

"And let Madam Pomfrey finish explaining!"

That was said with finality and the red-headed girl pressed her lips in annoyance. Madam Pomfrey continued.

"As I was saying, Mr. Malfoy is apparently well, but his magic is doing strange things." She looked at Moody and Remus with disapproval, and Harry frowned at that, but the mediwitch didn't stop talking. "It seems that someone has been messing with that boy's magic, among other things, and it's trying to reassert itself. Also he could have been more damaged than we first suspected."

Harry's worry increased. He immediately supposed Malfoy in some kind of danger.

"But, he's gonna be all right?"

"Yes, he's gonna be fine. However, I highly recommend for him to practice some spells. That would help for his magic to settle down."

Ginny immediately sprung to life, not liking that recommendation at all.

"Madam Pomfrey you can't be serious! We can't let him have a wand!"

The mediwitch frowned reprovingly to the girl.

"I'm not suggesting that you give him a wand to have at all times. With a few minutes of practice a day would do, even if he cast only simple spells."

"We'll see to it Madam Pomfrey." Said Harry, ignoring the furious glare that Ginny shot him.

"I'm happy to hear that Harry. For now he only needs to rest and he'll be up and about for dinner. I'll be leaving now, try not to injure yourselves young boys."

The mediwitch was gone and Mrs. Weasley started to prepare breakfast while she reprehended a sulking Ginny. They all ate breakfast quietly and then Remus and Moody went out for the rest of the day.

* * *

Malfoy sat on one of the couches at the library. After the adults had left his room he had immediately called for Dobby to bring him the potion Snape had given him. Now that the pain was gone he felt infinitely better and relaxed. He was still a bit tired but he was fed of the bed and wanted to see if he could forget about his problems reading a bit, problems which now included a reprimand on Mad eye's part for being so careless. Apart from that, he was strangely content, even when he must be feeling unsettled by the drop on his magic, he was enjoying the fact that he didn't need to block strange outside awareness of things around him. The world felt for once as it had always felt. Draco got himself comfortable on the couch with a huge book of spell theory and started to read.

It had passed only a couple of minutes when Harry entered the library and stopped for a moment, seeing the blond.

"Malfoy, what're you doing here? You're supposed to be resting!"

Draco raised his head to look at the Gryffindor boy and shrugged noncommittally.

"I was tired of the bed Potter; besides, I'm not some weakling who needs to be sleeping all day."

The black-haired boy shook his head and went to sit down besides the blond, frowning at the book that was on his hands.

"You could at least have picked up something lighter to read Malfoy. You and Hermione are very alike on that aspect."

Malfoy thought that he would never cease to be surprised that Harry's behaviour towards him hadn't changed. He felt strangely happy to see that Potter was not seeing him as a freak despite all the things that had recently happened. He quickly got over his surprise to take advantage of the situation.

"What's wrong with my choice of reading Potter? Only because you seem to prefer gory material, we normal people are not forced to like that."

He was talking of course about the newspapers full of the Death Eaters' misdoings. Harry huffed indignantly and answered.

"As if you're one to talk Malfoy. I'm sure you have read plenty of Dark Art's books that are even more gorish than the news."

"The fact that I had read some questionable books doesn't mean that I had enjoyed them."

Harry smiled at the now pouting blond and sniggered.

"You know Malfoy; I'm starting to think that you would have been a lost cause as a Death Eater."

Draco made a disgusted face and Harry laughed heartily.

* * *

Hermione stood in the shadows of the library, protected by a Disillusionment Charm. She had been there when Malfoy had arrived and had debated for a while whether she should go and talk to the boy, who evidently hadn't notice her. She decided to remain out of sight so she could observe him a bit. She had put the charm when she had seen Harry approaching and sat in the same couch as the blond.

Hermione groaned inwardly at the openness with which Harry talked to Malfoy. She was not blind and, unlike Ginny had suggested, she had noticed the change in Malfoy's attitude towards Harry, but she had also noticed the way Harry had responded to the blond. She knew that Harry wasn't doing it on purpose, and that much of it was Ginny's fault, but he had been acting as if he was too flirting with the other boy. Hermione hadn't said anything because she had believed that Malfoy was not really interested in Harry, besides, unlike Ginny she knew the black-haired Gryffindor enough to know that whatever she said against Malfoy at the moment would likely made her friend search the blond further.

Hermione looked attentively at the exchange between the boys and grimaced when Malfoy tentatively brushed a hand against Harry's tight and, encouraged by the lack of response on the black-haired boy's part, rested it over Harry's knee. Hermione pressed her lips together when all Harry did was smile, commenting on how tiring the tidy up of the house was, and proceeding to talk about Quidditch and some spells Lupin was teaching them. The girl noticed that Malfoy looked surprised at Harry's reaction, and frankly she completely shared the sentiment. The blond boy went along with the conversation and after a while he removed his hand from Harry's knee, after giving a light squeeze to it.

Hermione spied them for a few more minutes, waiting for Harry to do something to stop Malfoy from tracing patterns on his arm with his finger, but her friend was doing nothing to discourage the blonde's advances. The girl despaired when Malfoy looked intently at Harry's face and licked his lips in a very purposeful manner. Harry blushed, but his eyes were fixated on Malfoy and then he licked his lips too and almost leaned towards the blond! Hermione looked in shocked alarm as her best friend seemed to get lost looking into Malfoy's eyes. Thankfully, Mrs. Weasley's amplified voice reached them, announcing that dinner was ready. Harry regained his senses and was a bit flustered, but when he stood up he automatically took hold of the blonde's hand and pulled him to his feet.

They left the library together and Hermione lifted the Disillusionment Charm. She stood where she was for a moment, not quite knowing what to think. She had never thought that Harry liked men for an instance, but he was clearly proving her wrong. She couldn't blame Harry's behaviour on a spell on Malfoy's part, because the blond had no wand. A potion was unlikely the culprit, Malfoy had only brewed Pepperup and Blood-replenishing potions so far, and McGonagall herself had aided him and had scanned the potions' lab after they had finished and had not found anything amiss.

She couldn't say that Harry didn't realize what Malfoy was doing. The blond wasn't being very subtle. His intentions were clear; no one could be so naïve to misunderstand it! Right?

Hermione suddenly thought about Ron and how it took ages to make him understand certain things… And how Ginny had to go out with Dean for Harry to figure out that he had some feelings for her… Ok, maybe there was a tiny chance of Harry misunderstanding the signs that Malfoy was very clearly sending him. That could be a thousand times worse. Hermione decided that she had to confront her friend before something nasty happened.

* * *

Ginny entered the kitchen quietly. It was too early in the morning for anyone to be awake, but one could never be sure with the house-elves. She couldn't resist anymore. Malfoy was going too far! He was clearly trying to seduce her Harry and no one seemed to want to stop him! Well, she wasn't going to stay by and watch as someone tried to snatch Harry from her! She had a plan to make Harry stay with her and she was going to implement it as soon as possible.

She approached an empty cabinet that no one had found use of and opened it. She put in the bottle of firewhiskey she was carrying, then closed the door and put a looking spell in place. She turned around satisfied and returned to the parlour to floo home. Once she walked away, two little figures appeared beside the old cabinet, narrowing their eyes at the gone witch.


	12. It was not supposed to be like this

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Author's note:** Here it is. I hope it's worth the wait. I've been dealing with an increasingly high mountain of work. There's really little time to write.

**Chapter 11.** **It was not supposed to be like this.**

Harry paced back and forth in the training room after a painfully embarrassing and enlightening conversation with Hermione.

He had been beyond shocked when the bushy-haired girl had approached him that morning and told him that they needed to talk about Malfoy. She had wanted to know why he always seemed to need close contact with the boy. Harry had looked at her warily and had denied such thing. He had told her that he rather liked to have Malfoy as a friend. Harry had been utterly baffled when she had pressed her lips in a thin line and had asked if he really thought that it was that simple. Then she had proceeded to inform him that Malfoy really was flirting with him and that he had been encouraging the boy's advances!

At first he had believed that Hermione was following Ginny's lead, but his friend had patiently explained what she had been seeing in both his and Malfoy's behaviour and had not let him explode in anger until she had finished. Harry had been without words by then. Never in a million years would he have thought that the way he had been interacting with Malfoy could be considered flirting on both parts. He had sworn to Hermione that he hadn't done it on purpose. Hermione had believed him, after all that was exactly why she had decided to talk with him in the first place. But then she had asked if he was interested in Malfoy, or even felt a bit curious.

Harry had been terribly confused. At first he had hastily denied any possible attraction towards the blond, but his friend had given him the special look of incredulity and he had ended shamefully accepting that he could perhaps feel a tiny bit curious. He hadn't been capable of accepting to Hermione that he had been dreaming about Malfoy in a daily basis. Especially since some of the dreams had featured not only the Slytherin, but the twins too. He had already accepted that the dreams were a product of his curiosity and had decided to enjoy them while they lasted. Of course he expected them to end soon; there was no need to alert anyone of their existence.

Hermione had given him all kinds of embarrassing suggestions, from reading more about gay couples to try some "exploration" with Malfoy. She had been completely sure that the blond would not object to it as he surely was only curious about Harry himself and willing to have some fun. Harry had been torn between wonder at the idea of Malfoy wanting anything to do with him and shocked horror at Hermione even suggesting such a way of action. He had actually asked her if she was feeling sick. She had looked confused and he had commented that she was being unnaturally calm about the whole situation. The girl had shrugged and had informed him that she had done some reading and considered his attraction to be a phase. According to her, many young boys could experiment something similar. It was not at all dangerous and not permanent either, so Harry could go have his fun with Malfoy and his curiosity would have been dealt with.

Harry had been open mouthed after that and had only half-hear to Hermione's multiple advice. Right to the moment when she had mentioned Ginny and his relationship with her. Harry had gritted his teeth, but before he could protest that there was no romantic relationship with Ginny Hermione had put a hand over his mouth and said that she knew they had fallen out, and had pointed out that Ginny, and all of his friends, expected them to return eventually. In everyone's minds they were apart because Harry wanted to protect the girl he loved, but when the danger had disappeared and the war ended they would return to each other and be happy together. Harry had said it himself just when they had returned home after Dumbledore's burial.

Hermione had suggested that Harry get over his curiosity quickly, because once he and Ginny were together such things could not happen again. Then she had gone in search of Ron, leaving Harry fuming.

Harry had been furious with her. It really wasn't her business what Harry decided to do with his crush with Malfoy. Harry hadn't asked her opinion and therefore he didn't have to follow her advice! But she had given him something to think about. She had called Ginny the girl he loved. If he loved her so much, why was he feeling any attraction at all for other person? It was not right. Harry was now convinced that he wasn't in love with Ginny, and so letting her think otherwise was wrong of him. He would have to put things right with her, even if he hurt her at first it would be the best in the long run.

As for his recently discovered infatuation with Malfoy… Maybe it'll go away if he ignored it? He still had some troubles accepting the fact that the blond was showing an interest in him. Malfoy had said that he had standards; surely Harry didn't fit in them? And if he talked with Malfoy, what would he say? This entire flirting thing was so very frustrating!

Harry didn't know what to do. He didn't want to ruin the friendship he had discovered with Malfoy, but he had to do something to prevent the other boy from getting the wrong idea. Maybe he had to talk with the blond, just to know what his intentions were. He got out of the room and wandered down the hall. Hermione had told him that she and Ron would go to the Burrow to help Mrs. Weasley with her garden, and to investigate what they could about the past crisis. So, he'll have about an hour more before they returned. He walked nervously towards the potion's lab, where Draco was at the moment, thinking about what he was going to say. He didn't want any misunderstandings. He reached the door and was about to knock when he heard someone running up the stairs and seconds later Ron screamed for him at the top of his lungs.

"Harry!"

The boy turned around to see what happened and even Malfoy poked his head out of the potions' lab. Ron halted before his friend.

"Harry… the Death Eaters are attacking the Ministry!"

"What?"

"Everyone is there! Mom and Dad too! They need help Harry!"

Harry bolted down the hall, Draco's voice reaching him before he went downstairs.

"Wait! You're going?"

Harry barely turned over to answer.

"Of course we're going! We're needed there!"

"But it's dangerous! You could get killed Potter!"

Ron glared at the blond while following Harry downstairs.

"You'll never understand it Malfoy!"

"Of course not! It's usually difficult to understand why some people want to commit suicide!"

The blond was yelling from the top of the stairs to the boys that were already in front of the fireplace. Harry turned to him once Ron had taken the floo.

"Look Malfoy, we have family there that needs us. We can't stay here and not help!"

"I don't think your family would be very pleased if you go there and get killed!"

"Look, there's no time to argue with you Malfoy! We'll be back later!"

And he was gone in seconds. Malfoy felt extremely angry with the Gryffindor.

"Potter! Bloody idiot! I hope someone crucio you!"

He returned to the lab, cursing stupid Gryffindors with big hero complexes.

* * *

It was clear that the battle was lost. It had been lost before Harry and Ron arrived, but now it promised to be a downright disaster. Harry cursed himself while dodging hexes and doing his best to put down as many Death Eaters as he possibly could. He had been an idiot! Idiot, idiot, idiot! Malfoy had told them to wait but Nooo, he had been too anxious and too ready for some action that he had walked directly into one of Voldemort's traps! Again! And this time all of them were going to be killed! It didn't matter that he had no way to know that a set of antiaparition wards were going to be triggered the moment he appeared into the fight and that the floo was useless. In Harry's mind the fact that no one was able to leave the Ministry was still his fault. He should have waited! Now it was all lost because of his stupidity!

Voldemort was there, he could feel his presence. He was waiting until everyone was tired or dead to make his appearance. He was taunting Harry with his mental proximity, telling him that no matter how brave they fought, that the aurors and the Minister himself were doing an excellent job keeping the werewolves and dementors at bay, a task that was even harder because it was a full moon. Sooner or later they were going to fall. It was Harry's fault and no one will be able to kill Voldemort because they had not yet found Ravenclaw's horcrux!

Somewhere to Harry's left was a horrible sound that announced that a whole wing of the building had collapsed. The area where Harry was fighting was what used to be the atrium and all around him were debris, fire and hexes everywhere. There was a dense fog surrounding what was left of the building and some aurors, with Minister Scrimgeour and Moody leading them, were valiantly trying to open a way for escape. It was useless, they were clearly outnumbered. Harry was nearly crying in desperation.

Someone grabbed his arm and pulled him in time to avoid a nasty curse. He lost his equilibrium momentarily and did half a spin. In the movement he caught sight of Ron being chased by a big snake. Nagini. Nagini was there. That meant that Voldemort was close. He tried to run towards his friend but the person that had pulled him was still grabbing his arm. Said person tightened his grasp at Harry's efforts to go away.

"No! Let me go! Ron's in danger!"

"No Harry! Stay with me! They're going to help him!"

Harry noticed then that Tonks had gone to Ron's aid. She had managed to attract Nagini's attention while another auror was keeping Ron apart. Ron however didn't look relieved. He was waving his hands desperately, yelling something at Tonks. Harry noticed then that the young woman was holding something up her head, clearly intending to hit the snake with it.

"No! Tonks, no!"

Harry watched in slow motion as the Auror took the large thing down and hit square on Nagini's head.

The world quite literally exploded into red light and Harry was thrown to the floor and covered by a body. The most inhuman scream of agony resounded in his head and he yelled in pain before loosing consciousness.

* * *

Harry entered Grimmauld place shaking from head to toe. Moody had forcefully ejected him from St. Mungo's where the survivors of the attack were being tended to. Harry had been one of the few lucky ones to just spend a night in the hospital, but that had been due to the fact that Mr. Weasley had shielded him with his body when the world had exploded and everything had been blurry and confusing after that. Harry had refused to leave the hospital earlier, wanting to stay with the Weasleys, but Alastor had said that someone needed to be at headquarters and finally had all but ordered Harry to go. It was night already and the Gryffindor boy had protested that he wanted to be there with his friends, but Moody had only glared at him until he had relented. Now the boy was alone and feeling terrible for being the cause of the disaster.

No one knew exactly what had happened. The Order was wondering if Voldemort had managed to get away unscathed, and how many Death Eaters had managed to escape. The one thing that Harry was certain of was that Nagini was dead. Whatever thing Tonks had gotten from the department of mysteries had been extremely powerful. The horcrux-snake's magical protection had reacted awfully to it and Nagini and the artefact had technically destroyed each other. Unfortunately, they had taken with them almost everything in close proximity, including a good part of what had been left of the Ministry building and the majority of the dementors. Many people had died, many more had been injured, Aurors and Death Eaters alike, the onslaught of magic had been dreadful.

Harry collapsed in front of the main stairs. The Nagini-horcrux had been destroyed, but it hadn't been done the correct way. It had been chaotic. There should be a way to destroy the horcruxes without people getting killed in the process. Harry sat on the floor and put his forehead on his knees.

Mr. Weasley was dead. Harry didn't want to think about that, he didn't want to think about Tonks… and Ron… Harry wanted to scream. Ron had known that Nagini was a horcrux and that they couldn't kill her yet, but no one else had been aware of that. As far as the world had known Nagini had been a big snake… with one hell of a magical protection.

People had died because they had been hit by the onslaught of magic, but the majority had fallen victim of the collapsing building.

Harry started crying. It was all wrong! No one should be dead! If he hadn't show up in the battlefield the trap would not have triggered! If he had not gone Voldemort surely wouldn't have either and so Nagini wouldn't have been there! He should have stayed in the damned house and waited! He put his head on his crossed arms and wept for long moments, until the silence of the house was too much for him.

"Kreacher!"

The old elf appeared in front of him, looking like he rather be in any other place.

"Master want something of old Kreacher?"

"Bring me something to drink, something strong. There must be some kind of alcohol in this house, bring me what you find!"

The elf narrowed his eyes, clearly disapproving of his master's petition. But he was nothing if not a well trained elf and after a moment of disgust his ears lifted and his mouth formed a tentative smile.

"As Master wishes."

And he popped out to look for what Harry wanted.

* * *

"Kreacher should not give that to Master Harry Potter! Stubborn witch brought it!"

Dobby crossed his arms and stood in front of the older elf, which was holding a bottle of firewhisky. Kreacher all but sneered at him.

"We knows what the witch put in it. But witch not here. Master Potter and Master Malfoy are. Master asked for some of this drink. Opportunity is not to be wasted."

"But Master Harry Potter is knowing…"

"He is not. Master not knowing of witch treachery. Witch not going to tell. No one else in the house at moment. Just the two Masters."

Dobby looked doubtful and sniffed at the bottle. He pulled on his ears nervously.

"Master Harry Potter not liking this. Should do it himself…"

"Too slow. Magic getting weaker. Soon no more house-elves. No more creatures. They instructed for us to help."

Dobby finally straightened and muttered something under his breath, giving a nod and disappearing.

* * *

Draco could tell that something was wrong. He laid on the bed, trying to pinpoint the uneasy feeling that had awoken him. Sally was still recovering from the drain of magic that Draco's change had caused and was far from his reach. The boy bit his lips nervously. He didn't like to not be able to talk with Sally, he had quickly grow accustomed to her presence in his mind and felt a bit abandoned now.

He huffed in irritation and tried to get back to sleep when a sudden "pop" made him turn to the bedside, where a frantic Dobby was jumping up and down.

"Master Malfoy sir! Master Harry Potter not well sir!"

Draco sat on the bed, frowning at the elf.

"Potter is here?"

"Master Harry Potter just arrived! He not well sir! He needing help sir!"

Draco hadn't been informed about how the Ministry attack had ended. He only knew that Potter had, predictably, ended in St. Mungo's. The blond was still annoyed at the carelessness of the Gryffindor boy, besides, if Potter had returned to the house it meant that he was well enough to walk to his bedroom all by himself. He didn't see the need for him to go aid the golden-boy. He was about to said so to the worried elf when the wretched thing suddenly disappeared. Draco was baffled.

"Dobby? Dobby! … Stupid elf…"

He debated for a while whether he should get up and see what the matter with Potter was. After all, it could be a perfect opportunity to bond with him. But the boy was so annoying some times! The idiot surely received a set of curses meant for another in an effort to save some nameless person! It was infuriating!

In the end, Draco decided that he could help Potter get to his bed, and while doing so he was going to give him a piece of his mind. He got up, put on a night robe and decidedly walked out of the room.

He was midway down the stairs when he heard the sobs coming from the hunched figure at the foot of them. He hesitated a bit. He was not sure he would be any help if Potter was by any chance mourning. But Dobby had mentioned that the boy was not well, maybe it was better to check on him. Draco finished to climb down the stairs and leaned towards the black-haired boy.

"Hey Potter. You're gonna get a cold down here on the floor."

At the tenuous light that filtered through the window, Malfoy saw Potter's head straightening and then tilting backwards in order to take a deep gulp from a bottle. Draco's eyes narrowed and immediately snatched the thing from Potter's grasp. The strong smell quickly got to his nostrils.

"Potter, what is this? Are you drinking firewhisky?"

The blond noticed alarmed that the bottle had been already half emptied. He hoped that it was not the first time that the Gryffindor had drunk something as strong as the firewhisky.

"This can't be healthy Potter! Where did you get this?"

"I don't see how doess that mattersss… Give it back!"

"I don't think so! You are already talking with a slur, I can notice it!"

"Wharever you care Malfoy!"

The blond frowned in annoyance, but got hold of himself quite quickly.

"Look Potter, I'm sure that whatever happened wasn't your fault, ok? You're obviously grieving for something, but I think that you have already drunk enough. Just leave this bottle here and let's get you into your bed shall we?"

A bit of hysterical laughter answered Malfoy's little speech. The boy started to worry.

"Potter? Please don't tell me that you're actually drunk!"

"He's dead Malfoy! Dead…"

Draco knelt in front of the boy and put a hand on his knee.

"What are you talking about Potter? Who's dead?"

"… *sniff* he… and Tonks too… Oh God, Ron…"

Harry lifted his head and locked eyes with Draco. The blond was at a loss of words. He could tell how much the other boy was hurting and didn't want to make things worse. He knelt beside Potter and reached over to grab one of the boy's hands, gently squeezing it. The boy leaned on him and Draco started to rub small circles in the Gryffindor's back, trying to comfort him.

"I'm sorry Potter. I know how much the family means to you… I know he's… was… your best friend…"

The sobbing quieted a bit and Potter squeezed back Draco's hand with a sigh.

"Thanks…"

"Come on, you can't stay here in the cold. Let's get you into your bed, you'll be more comfortable."

He helped Harry to his feet and up the stairs. He was relieved to see that the house-elves were thoughtful enough to turn on the lamps of the hallway. Even when he suspected that Potter wasn't really drunk, only deeply depressed, he was partially supporting the boy's weight.

"Merlin Potter, you really are a bad drinker."

The Gryffindor huffed, but continued leaning on the blond. They soon arrived to their destination and Draco opened the room's door, guiding his charge into it and noticing with relief that the lights were turned on too. They hadn't taken three steps towards the bed when Harry suddenly grabbed Malfoy's arms and turned him around to face him. Draco was surprised and yelped. He looked into Potter's vibrant green eyes in confusion, those beautiful eyes… that were a bit unfocused.

"Potter?"

"Do you know you're really pretty?"

Draco's eyes widened in shock. The first idea that crossed his mind was that Potter had completely lost it. Maybe he was actually drunk? But then he remembered the "lust spell" that was still active and still pulling at him to be with Potter as much as possible. He had to stop himself from cursing loudly.

'_No, no, no, no! This can't happen now!'_

The blond tried to disentangle himself, but Harry didn't let him go, in fact, the black-haired boy pressed himself to Draco's body and trapped him in a forceful hug. Draco sensed the pull of the lust spell getting stronger.

"Potter, what are you doing? You're drunk…"

Harry leaned a bit and nipped at the blonde's earlobe.

"You smell so good… like pine…"

Draco felt like melting on the spot. He grabbed the other boy's robes for support and moaned when Potter started licking and sucking at his neck. His mind was wavering, unable for a moment to remember why exactly this wasn't a good idea. Then Harry moved a little and started to kiss Draco's jaw, his lips brushed the blonde's and Draco came back to reality with a start. The smell of firewhisky still too evident for him. With a bit of effort he pushed Potter away and tried to reason with him.

"No, Potter listen… I don't know how many bottles of firewhiskey you already had when I found you, because obviously it wasn't just half a bottle. You're drunk. You don't want to do this…"

Harry's response was to trap the blonde's face in his hands and force him to look directly into his eyes. Draco gasped and felt totally lost. Potter's eyes were still unfocussed, but bright with determination.

"How do you know that it's not what I want?"

The voice had lost its previous slur. If not for the smell of alcohol, Draco wouldn't have believed that Harry had drunk anything.

"Potter… mmph!"

The Gryffindor suddenly leaned over and kissed Malfoy, deeply, almost forcefully. Draco was too shocked to do anything about it before the kiss abruptly ended.

"It's Harry, Draco. I do think I really want this… I want you…"

Harry's hands found their way under Draco's robe and fumbled with the pyjama shirt the blond was wearing. His mouth trailed kisses down Malfoy's jaw and neck. The blond moaned quietly at the attention, but he still tried to stop Potter, albeit reluctantly.

"N-no… Harry wait… you'll be sorry in the morning… think about Ginny?"

"What about her?" Harry said between kisses, his arms had found their way under Draco's night clothes and had trapped the blonde's upper torso.

"Well… aaah… she's your… umm… your girlfriend…"

"She's not… and she's not here now… you are… and you're infinitely better…"

Malfoy wouldn't deny that the last statement pleased him immensely. It would be even better if Potter would have been in his right mind. As it was, Malfoy was sure that the lust spell was what was talking and not really Harry, but even with this knowledge he was quickly loosing the battle against Potter's insistence.

"Potter… please… ow!"

Malfoy gave a yelp of surprise when he suddenly fell onto the bed. He had not realised that the Gryffindor had been slowly guiding him across the room. His eyes widened in surprise as Harry was immediately over him, his stare fixing him on place.

"You want this too Malfoy. I know you do. All these past days you have been a tease. There's no reason for you to be so difficult now."

Malfoy gaped at the boy, only to gasp a second later when he felt said boy's hand cupping his semi-erection, which was slowly getting harder. Harry smiled.

"You want this Draco…" He squeezed a bit to prove his point and the blonde's back arched.

"Fuck! … Please… Harry… we can't…" he was panting now, he realized that it was a lost cause. Potter was too far gone for reason to reach him, and he would be no better in short moments.

"Of course we can…"

Harry had both of them lying properly on the bed in an instant and Draco forgot himself and the multiple reasons to stop Potter. The lust spell along with the Gryffindor's ministrations finally overwhelmed him and soon he was happily aiding Harry in the task to get both of them naked. The only thought remaining in his mind was that it would be foolish to let go an opportunity like the one presenting itself after all.

They immersed in the exploration of each others body, teasing and enjoying. Not stopping. Until Harry actually tried to enter Draco finding and prodding at an entrance that shouldn't be there. Malfoy had opened his eyes wide then, to look into the glassed and unfocused ones of Harry. He remembered that the Gryffindor wasn't in his five senses and wasn't actually realizing what he was doing. Which was fortunate if you thought about it, because there was no other way that Harry would have overlooked the extra anatomy that Draco now possessed. But Draco suddenly had the impression that having sex with a barely conscious Harry, who was evidently inexperienced, was not the best of ideas.

Draco wasn't a virgin and he knew that without proper preparation the experience could be quite painful for both participants. Granted, his body seemed to have taken care of the lubrication, but the blond just knew that there was something missing. He needed to be able to relax and he had had not much time to explore himself as Salamanca had suggested. Draco gulped and grabbed Harry's arms, trying to get support.

"W-wait Harry… not yet… oh!"

Harry pushed inside Draco, but his advance found resistance too soon. Harry and Draco both frowned. The Gryffindor pushed insistently and the blond was starting to feel pain. He didn't quite understand. He tried to relax, to make the entrance easier, but the obstacle was still there.

Draco suddenly remembered a very embarrassing conversation with his father when he had been ten. He had asked what his mother had meant when she had mentioned an "untouched" girl as the perfect candidate to a proper marriage. His father had then given him the sex talk and mentioned virginity. The boy had then asked how a man was supposed to know that a woman was really a virgin and Lucius had explained, in detail, the hymen. He had described it as a fragile membrane, easily torn by the first penetration of a man, and had assured his son that he would know when he encountered it in a woman.

Fragile membrane his ass! It bloody hurt!

Draco tried to stop Harry a moment too late and the pain nearly made him cry. He pressed his lips and tried desperately to fight against it. However, it subsided soon enough with Harry's movement and kissing and Draco was able to forget it and enjoy himself again. Both boys soon fell in perfect synchrony.

As they finished, the Gryffindor took the Slytherin in his arms, after having quickly charmed them clean, and both cuddled around each other. Draco felt Harry's lips still kissing his temple tenderly and smiled when he heard the boy whisper.

"Who would have known that you were so wonderful Draco…"

Then exhaustion took over and both boys succumbed to sleep.

* * *

'_**Safe… he'll keep us safe…'**_

"Mmmm…"

Draco was half-listening to Sally's murmur in his head. He wasn't totally awake yet. He didn't want to open his eyes. He was extremely comfortable and warm and had the fleeting suspicion that moving would bring an ungodly amount of discomfort. So he stayed immobile, listening to Sally's purring noises, enjoying the feeling of the arms around him and ignoring the rising notion nagging at the back of his consciousness informing him that something was wrong.

He absently noticed that he could indeed hear Sally once more and happy with that discovery he was ready to push away any other concern and force himself back into sleep, when the arms around him shifted and the person behind him groaned. His mind alerts woke up at that moment and brought to his attention the fact that he was not supposed to be sleeping with anyone. Draco frowned, still in his half-sleep state, and did an effort to remember whom the body behind him belonged to.

Not two seconds later his eyes opened wide and panic instantly replaced the comforting feeling of being snuggled in bed with a warm companion. He quickly decided that he didn't want to be there when Potter waked up and proceeded to try and extract himself from the other boy's embrace as quietly as possible. But it was already too late. He felt Potter's body moving against him and one hand flustered his hair lazily. Potter's breath at the back of his neck changed minutely and he heard the boy mumbling incoherently about pine. He was in the same state that Malfoy had been short seconds ago, still blessedly ignorant of the situation, but if Draco moved the other boy would undoubtedly wake.

The Slytherin remained very still and prayed to the gods that Potter wasn't coherent enough to notice him and tired enough to fall asleep again. Unfortunately, no god seemed to be listening because the next thing Draco felt was Harry's body going completely stiff and a sharp intake of breath. He braced himself for what he was sure was going to be an aggressive reaction on Potter's part.

Harry slowly waked up and sighed in contentment. He had feared to have nightmares about the ministry, but instead he had had a wonderful dream about Draco… Harry frowned while images intruded in his semi-conscious mind. He gradually recognized a peculiar smell of pine and the soft texture of whatever his hand was toying with at the moment. There was warm in front of him, it was weird, as if someone was in bed with him. Harry's mind was confused for a moment and then he stiffened and opened his eyes to the blurry image of blond hair before him. Draco. Draco Malfoy. What had he done?

The recent memories of what he had thought a dream came suddenly back, but of course the clearer ones were those where Malfoy had been attempting to get away. He remembered with crystal clarity the exact moment when the blond had pleaded him to stop just before he… had… Harry felt like screaming. He hurriedly released Draco and scrambled away from him. The blond sighed and sat up on the bed, not looking at Harry and clearly scanning the floor for his things.

"Jesus! God Malfoy I…! I'm sorry I-I didn't…!"

"I know Potter." Draco interrupted. "You didn't want this. It just happened. Don't worry yourself, no one will know."

"No! That's not it! I-I… Fuck! Are you ok?"

Harry tentatively approached the blond and raised a hand towards him, not sure if his touch would be accepted. Malfoy sighed again and tried to stand up, wincing almost imperceptibly. Harry of course noticed it and immediately considered it to mean that Draco was in pain. He put a hand on the boy's shoulder to prevent him from getting up and hastily pulled a robe that was on a chair nearby. He put the robe over Draco's shoulders while talking hurriedly to him.

"Oh god, you're hurt aren't you? I'm so sorry. I-I don't know what happened to me! I swear Malfoy! I never wanted to hurt you! This wasn't supposed to happen I swear!"

Malfoy looked in shock at a genuinely worried and frantic Harry and didn't know what to do. The boy was upset and was apologizing to him. Draco had expected Potter to be angry and to blame him for what had happened, not for the Gryffindor to be worried that Draco had been hurt. He put on the robe that Harry's nervous hands were trying to unsuccessfully fast around him and took hold of the boy's upper arms, looking into his eyes.

"Potter, I'm fine. Really. There's no need for you to be frantic over this. You were upset last night; I understand that that doesn't mean you wanted me, I…"

"No! You don't understand! I-I only wanted us to be friends, but I've been having these strange dreams and Hermione made me realize that perhaps I wanted other things and I…!"

"Calm down Potter, would you? I don't quite grasp what you're trying to tell me."

Harry took a deep breath and pulled the chair to sit down before the blond. He found another robe, and fortunately his glasses, and put them on before trying his explanation again.

"I had a talk with Hermione and she made me realize that I may be feeling a bit of attraction for you. But I wasn't going to act on it! Actually, I was very confused and trying to decide what I wanted to do about it. If I wanted to do anything, that's it. I know that you can't possibly feel like that about me anyway, no matter what Hermione and Ginny think, so I was just going to ignore it. I swear Malfoy, I didn't want to hurt you, I-I don't know what happened last night! It just was… like I was just feeling and my brain had shut down or something… I…"

Draco had heard enough. He put a hand over Harry's mouth to shut him up and then sighed. He knew what had happened, it had been the spell. There was no real attraction; Potter just had been feeling the effects of the spell all that time. And now he was feeling guilty over something that wasn't his fault. Draco didn't want to tell him the truth, how was he going to explain the spell? But he couldn't leave the boy feeling upset, besides, now that the spell was broken the Gryffindor will stop to feel the attraction. They could pretend that it had been just curiosity and that Potter had gotten over it. Malfoy thought for a second of what he was going to say.

"Listen Potter. It was not your fault. You were not yourself last night, you were pretty upset, and I didn't exactly stop you."

Harry opened his mouth to protest, but Malfoy silenced him with a glare.

"Don't talk yet Potter, just listen. I have been enjoying your company these days and I accept that I have been trying to attract your attention. I had a crush on you, you see, but I know that you are straight and I didn't tell you anything because I really wanted to be your friend and I didn't want to ruin it. I just couldn't help it. I don't know what happened to you last night, other than the fact that you were drinking firewhisky, but it was also my fault. I let it happen Potter, you can't say I put much resistance."

He had removed his hand from Harry's mouth by then, and the Gryffindor was scowling.

"You weren't the one who forced the other in your bed."

"You didn't force me Potter."

"I remember you telling me to stop! And you screamed when I-I… I did force you…!"

Harry dropped his eyes in shame and Draco had to put a hand on his jaw to make him look up again.

"No! I accept that it took me by surprise and things didn't happen like I would have preferred, but that doesn't mean that I didn't want it Potter. And I enjoyed it."

Harry bit his lip nervously and looked uncertain. Draco sighed.

"It doesn't have to mean anything. I know that you don't want anything like this… well not with me anyway. I know Potter, and I understand. You feel guilty, but there's no reason for you to feel that way. I'm sorry, I knew that you didn't really want to do it, but I just didn't want to stop you."

"You really think you could have?"

Harry's eyes were hard, and Malfoy pressed his lips in worry. He knew that the boy would hate him again now, but he couldn't take his words back. It won't be fair to him.

"I could have Potter."

He was surprised to see the Gryffindor look at him with incredulity and felt slightly offended.

"Hey, even when I am without a wand and not so good at fist fighting, I think that I could have managed enough strength to knock out a drunken you." Harry blushed in shame again and looked mortified. Draco still added. "Even if I couldn't fight you, I could have called the elves Potter. I could have stopped you. I'm sorry I didn't, I really should have and the one apologizing should be me…"

"No, I…"

Harry ran his hands trough his hair and sighed.

"I don't know how to deal with this. I mean… a part of me wanted it, just not like it happened and… I don't want for us to be mean to each other again! We were doing so fine! I just want… I don't know…"

Draco took the Gryffindor's hands in his and smiled quietly.

"I know. I don't want us to hate each other. Not again. We can still be friends if you want to. No one needs to know about this. It was just a one time between us… if you like."

"Sure… Are you sure that I didn't hurt you?"

"I'm perfectly fine Potter. I'm just a drama queen in bed."

Harry lifted an eyebrow at him, still doubtful. He couldn't accept what he had done so easily. He was ashamed of himself. But Malfoy was looking at him with sincerity in his eyes and was assuring him that nothing bad had happened, even when Harry was convinced that it had. Malfoy was trying to convince him that he had wanted it and had enjoyed what Harry had done. It was too much. Harry bit his lips and realized that he had not the energy to contradict Malfoy. He didn't want to, at the moment he much preferred to pretend that what the blond was telling him was the truth. He would deal on it later, when he was alone and can put his mind in order.

The Gryffindor finally sighed and asked the blond if he was up to go for breakfast. Draco sighed too, feeling relieved and insisted in having a bath first and Harry practically escorted him to his room to pick up his clothes.

"You know, if you are still willing to be friends, maybe we should start calling each other by our first names, don't you think?"

"I'd like to, Harry."

* * *

**Author's note: **I hope I hadn't ruined it too badly. Sorry for not having the elves deal with Ginny, as you can see I had some plans for the firewhiskey and Ginny is still going to be needed for the plot for some time.

To readers, I actually had to change a good part of the scene. I hope I had not missed something and still makes sense.

Reviews are always welcome.


	13. Adjustments

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Chapter ****12. Adjustments.**

Ron Weasley turned out not to be as dead as Malfoy had first assumed. He was informed of that fact during breakfast, when McGonagall arrived to check on Harry and to give him news on the red-head boy's progress. The problem with that was that such progress was non-existent. Weasley had suffered many wounds and had received massive body trauma that resulted in internal bleeding. The mediwizards had saved his life, barely, but he was now in deep coma and there was no way to know when he would wake. If he waked at all.

Harry was deep in guilt and McGonagall didn't know how to make him feel better. Apparently there had been some sort of trap and antiaparition wards had appeared over the entire battlefield when Potter had arrived. Draco thought that it was hardly Harry's fault that the Dark Lord was so focused in him, but judging from McGonagall's stern glance and the boy's self-deprecating words, he had had no business being in the battle in the first place. But McGonagall didn't want to place the blame entirely on Harry's shoulders, so she pointed out that everyone had been expecting a strong attack and they all had been stupidly taken by surprise, thinking innocently that the Death Eaters could not manage another battle so soon after their most recent attack.

It turned out that while the trio had been chasing dark artefacts the Order had been helping the Ministry Aurors to try and defend Azkaban. The Dementors had attacked the prison en masse with every intention to reduce it to dust and eventually succeeding after tree days of constant siege. The Minister was still baffled at the notion that the Death Eaters had used dragons to aid the Dementors. The Aurors and Order members had barely escaped with their lives. The Ministry had just started to put itself together and wonder what had happened to those prisoners that had been left behind, when the Ministry building had been under attack.

Harry had fallen in the trap, but McGonagall had the theory that the Dark Lord's purpose had been to continue attacking until the boy appeared. Under that view, the Ministry had been the most convenient place for it to happen. Their only consolation was that at least someone had been able to find something that had luckily saved them all.

Harry pressed his lips, unwilling to give his professor's theory much credit. But he didn't want to antagonize her. He was still too immersed in self-guilt and his nocturnal adventure with Draco was not helping. Especially because, after Draco had gone to take his shower, Harry had taken the covers of his bed to put some clean ones and had discovered a stain of blood in them. He had been sick and now was completely convinced that Malfoy was hurting and hiding it. He had no idea of why the blond had denied it or why he would be willing to remain in the same house with someone that had practically raped him. The fact that Malfoy was sitting so near to him without even wincing or showing any kind of discomfort was baffling Harry and serving only to increase his guilt. Between that and the recent disaster in the Ministry the Gryffindor boy was feeling miserable.

McGonagall sensed his mood and tried to utter a few encouraging words. She was interrupted by Moody's arrival, who announced an emergency meeting with the rest of the Order. Draco immediately stood; ready to leave for the sanctuary of his bedroom. Mad Eye took him by the arm when the boy tried to pass by him in his way to the door and looked at him intensely for a few seconds. Harry tensed. He wasn't sure of Moody's intentions but he was not going to let him abuse Malfoy in any way. It was quite enough with what he himself had done. But the old ex-auror only gave Malfoy what could barely pass by a smile and sent him to his room. Harry scowled, sensing something strange happening, and decided to pay more attention to Mad Eye.

* * *

&&&&&&&

Draco was sprawled on the bed, partially leaning on Sally's neck, hearing to her soft whispers and letting his mind wander erratically. The dragon was absolutely sure Draco was pregnant and was rejoicing in it. Already much of their combined magic had been used to protect the womb and the foetus and Draco had started to feel unease. What was he going to do when he started showing? He didn't have enough control of wandless magic to cast a glamour, besides, Potter would notice it immediately. He needed a plan and help if he wanted to keep his pregnancy a secret. Though, he wasn't sure if he should keep it a secret. Sooner or later someone was bound to notice something strange in him. And the constant drain in his magic would ensure that he was tired and helpless the majority of the time.

How was he going to survive if the Death Eaters discovered him? No matter that the house was under fidelius as that certainly hadn't stopped the Dark Lord from finding his victims before. The mad man only had to keep trying to get to Potter and someone might do something stupid enough to reveal their location to a spy and then they were going to be under attack. What was Draco to do then? For the moment he was starting to panic for absolutely no reason.

Sally, sensing his increasing nervousness, purred some comforting words and reassurances of safety. Sally was certain that they would be all right. Somehow she had gotten the idea that the boy with emerald eyes will protect them. Draco wondered why Sally believed that Potter would want to have anything to do with him now. There was nothing to attract the boy's attention anymore. No lust spell and no duty on the blonde's part to get laid. Strictly speaking, Draco no longer had any reason to seek Potter's company. Sure, the friendship would be nice and he had to do something besides potions and reading to not die of boredom, but he doubted that Potter would give him the time of day, much less his undivided attention. Even if Draco managed to retain the boy's friendship, he certainly wouldn't become Draco's protector. Especially when he didn't have an idea of what exactly he would be protecting.

The blond sighed and started a circling rubbing motion over his stomach. He was already carrying a life. He was pregnant with Potter's child. He wondered for the first time why he couldn't just go and confess that delicate fact to the Gryffindor. Surely the boy would listen to his explanation. In fact, Draco felt that Potter was owed one. He had seen the Potter's coat of arms in the magical chamber, which meant that the Gryffindor was entitled to know about the Dragons. Besides, he had the right to know that he was fathering a child. Draco didn't know why, but he felt as if it was a crime to hide the child from Potter. Maybe he was developing a conscience after all that had happened?

Draco's thoughts were already going down the path of philosophical consideration over the state of his soul when the door to his room opened and Mad Eye entered. The ex-auror gave him a terrifying grin and took two steps inside the room before Draco had the wits to sit up on the side of the bed. Sally had tensed at the intrusion, but she had quickly recognized Moody and considered he was not a threat. Therefore she retreated into the back of Draco's mind and stayed hovering over the boy's awareness as a reassurance.

Moody didn't waste time in getting his wand out and casting a series of diagnostic spells on Draco. His face becoming curiously brighter as he finished.

"I wondered why the house felt strange, now I know. It's rejoicing. Same as your Dragon."

He said those words almost reverently. Draco blinked in bafflement until he understood what Mad Eye was talking about. The house must be singing again. He shuddered and thanked the Gods that his magic was dampened enough to not hear it. Alastor continued his speech in his regular voice.

"We must call a meeting immediately. There are many things that you should learn at once. And we have to consider the possibility of getting you out of here. Changing your location could be wise…"

"No!"

Draco was surprised to see Harry Potter standing on the doorframe, an angry scowl fixed in Mad Eye. The blond didn't know how to react. He never expected to see the confrontation that followed.

* * *

&&&&&&&

Harry had been in the meeting, forgetting his personal dilemma for a moment to pay a minimum of attention on the reports from the captured Death Eaters. Obviously, Voldemort had escaped and The Order had not been able to track him down. They still had no idea of the damage caused to Voldemort's forces or how long would it be before they were ready to attack again.

Harry was feeling restless and uncomfortable. At first he had thought that it was because of the guilt he felt every time he saw Mrs. Weasley and Hermione, but after he had talked briefly with both of them and the meeting continued its course, he had decided that it was something else. He was anxious and felt an inexplicable need to get everyone out of the house.

He felt so out of place that he tried to hide in the background when the Order started to talk about the arrangements for the deceased's funerals. The guilt assaulted him again and for the first time in the meeting he wondered where Remus was. Suddenly he felt the wards around Malfoy's room alert him that someone other than the blond had entered the bedroom. Harry frowned and quickly scanned the Kitchen. Moody's absence was noticed after a few moments and Harry cursed himself for being distracted and scurried from the meeting as quietly and quickly as possible.

He hurried upstairs and came to a halt before Draco's door, just in time to overhear Moody talking about moving Malfoy away. He opened the door without ceremony and interrupted the old ex-auror with a loud "No", getting the immediate attention of the other two occupants of the room.

The Gryffindor quickly analyzed the situation. Malfoy was sitting on the side of his bed, evidently surprised by Harry's arrival, but otherwise apparently unharmed. Moody was looking at him suspiciously, his wand halfway rose towards him. Harry took a deep breath and strode towards them, thinking that Moody was seeing Draco as a liability.

"I promised he'll be safe, and there's no other place in Britain where he would be…"

"That's not necessarily truth Potter." Alastor interrupted. "The same fidelius that keeps this place safe can be performed in another location. There are other safe-houses where some people are already hiding…"

"I don't trust other people with the knowledge of Malfoy's whereabouts! I don't trust anyone outside the ones who already know to not betray the information to the Ministry or even the Death Eaters out of spite! If we move Draco he would be alone and the risk would be greater! He's safer here, the house is never entirely alone and I already compromised to train here! I'm taking care of Draco's safety and I don't want him somewhere far away where I can't be sure if he's all right and…"

Suddenly Harry stopped. He was now standing beside Malfoy, a bit ahead of him because of the bed and he couldn't see the blonde's expression, but Moody's was not very reassuring. The ex-auror was looking at him as if doubting his identity.

"Curious… I didn't think that you Potter would ever display such an interest for Malfoy's well being."

Harry blushed and straightened, trying to maintain some composure.

"We-we have come to an understanding… we have been getting along nicely these past days and… well… he had been helping me with the training and all…"

Harry fervently wished he knew what had gotten into him. He prayed that Malfoy didn't decide that he had been wronged enough to justify turning his back on the boy-who-lived at that precise moment. Harry hardly needed that in top of the stern and suspicious look Moody was giving him.

"Very strange Potter… Has something happened…?"

"No!" Harry almost yelled in a bit of panic. "There's nothing wrong! Nothing bad had happened! I only…!" He could feel his embarrassment shine red in his face. The guilt he felt towards what had happened between him and Malfoy returned with a vengeance. How dare he say that nothing bad had happened? Surely the blond Slytherin felt very differently. The sudden onslaught of guilt nearly made him confess what he had done, but was saved by Malfoy.

The blond couldn't help but feel utterly surprised when Harry stood up to Mad Eye in his defence. Apparently the boy had spoken the truth when he had told the Slytherin that he still wanted to be his friend. Draco was glad about that. His hopes about retaining Harry's friendship increased and a warm feeling filled his chest. Maybe the awkward mood he had noticed in Harry during breakfast had been due to McGonagall's presence and the news about Weasley.

Draco felt the insecurity in Harry when Alastor started pressing about possible strange occurrences and decided to help the Gryffindor.

"We just did a bit of bonding last night. With the attack and everything that happened I guess we both needed some comfort."

Harry nodded in agreement at Draco's words, relaxing only a little. Moody eyed both boys curiously and finally his mouth twitched as if in a smirk.

"I suppose there's no immediate danger to headquarters. And the brat can still be useful."

"He is." Said Harry with a fierce scowl. "He has been helping me, and he manages the potions pretty well."

"Mmmph, as you wish Potter. As long as you don't forget that he's your responsibility now."

Moody turned around and took his leave without waiting for a proper answer. Draco gaped at his back. What the hell? He suddenly felt like a child being put into the care of his older brother. He was unsure of how Potter would take that final instruction. Then he remembered that the Gryffindor knew nothing about the pregnancy and relaxed a bit.

Harry sighed when Mad Eye got out of the bedroom and turned to face an incredulous looking blond.

"You ok?"

Malfoy looked at him and blinked in confusion.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Whatever you thought Mad Eye would do?"

"I don't know I just…"

Harry didn't know what to say. He was still feeling guilty and a bit miffed that Malfoy wouldn't accept to be hurt when Harry had seen the blood in the sheets. Granted it wasn't such a big patch of blood, Malfoy surely wasn't going to die from blood loss or something equally gruesome, but still he must be hurting. The Gryffindor didn't know why he felt so worried, and he was starting to feel uncomfortable.

"I just wanted to be sure that you're ok that's all."

He sighed and tried to make some sense of what exactly he was feeling.

"I'll make sure that he doesn't think about moving you out of here again. That's it if you still want to stay here…"

Draco blinked, more confused now.

"Well I don't exactly have anywhere else to go. Why I wouldn't want to be here…?" The blond noticed then the guilty look Harry was giving him and huffed in annoyance.

"Potter, we spent a good part of the morning stating that you're not to blame for what happened. I think that we agreed to not talk about it anymore!"

"I know!" Harry stood and one hand went through his hair in agitation. "I know you said you were fine, but…"

He was interrupted by Moody opening the door again.

"Let the chat for latter Potter! The meeting will finish soon and you need to be there to see everyone out of the house!"

Harry sighed and glared at Moody, but went with him anyway. He still needed to know where Remus was and to make sure that Mrs. Weasley and Hermione would be ok. He could deal with Malfoy later.

* * *

&&&&&&&

Over the next few days, life resulted to be a bit difficult for Draco. Molly, Ginny and the twins had finally took permanent residence in the house, which injected more life to it, but presented a problem for the blond to sneak out of his room at night to go to the magical chamber. The boy didn't know what he'd had done without the house-elves. The creatures were pretty helpful and made sure that no one discovered Draco's escapades. It annoyed him though that Severus had insisted to meet him for at least an hour every night.

Moody of course had wasted no time in informing the rest of the dragon-bonded of Draco's pregnancy and the boy had been informed of the joy and hopes that the news had brought with them. Severus had also saw fit to tell him that some of the other wizards had not been entirely happy with him staying in Grimmauld Place. Draco's situation was very delicate and the dragon-bonded would have preferred him to be under their care. Draco had adamantly refused. As much as he had understood that Severus and the others would be more help than the people at Order's headquarters he hadn't wanted to be apart from Harry.

Surprisingly, Salamanca had been on his side. She had explained that Potter, as the other father of his child, would be required to stay near to him. It was a thing that came from the Rainbow Dragons. The magical creatures mated for life. They only hatch one egg every two-hundred or so years and both parents merged their magic to protect and raise the hatchling. Since Draco's pregnancy was only possible because of his dragon, the ancient magic would need the magic signature of the other parent to be close by to help stabilize it. That fact made moving Draco away from the Black's house not recommendable, so Severus had insisted in Draco learning and perfecting the necessary charms for him to be safe and his secret undiscovered. The blond would need to borrow a bit of extra magic from the elves and the house, seeing that the drain on his own core was already too much to allow effective casting of powerful spells.

The training always left Malfoy exhausted and had resulted in him been always late for breakfast and to be forced to take naps along the day. If someone in the house had found his behaviour strange, no one had mentioned it, but Mrs. Weasley had taken to be concerned about him and had often inquired about his health. That attitude irked Malfoy a bit. He was not used to have someone that wasn't his mother coddling him and wasn't comfortable with it. He supposed that Molly was trying to compensate for her son Ron, but it was still making him nervous. However, he couldn't do anything about it as the Weasley matriarch seemed to be everywhere and was almost impossible to avoid, so the blond simply tried to tolerate her.

In addition, Draco didn't need his enhanced "magical sense" to notice the tense atmosphere in the house. The still recent attack at the Ministry had everyone on edge, particularly Harry. It didn't help that the senior members of the Order had decided that the youngsters shouldn't be allowed at the victims' funerals, fearing that You-Know-Who would be able to attack again. Harry had protested against the injustice of such decision, saying that it was him the one Voldemort wanted and only him should be left behind, there was no reason to forbid the Weasley children from bury their father. The Order members however had declared in no uncertain terms that they were not going to take the risk. So, the day that the funerals took place there were a few sulking teenagers in their rooms. With the exception of the twins, that had threatened bloody murder if they weren't allowed to go. Molly had caved and they attended the funerals under glamour.

The day of the sad event, Draco woke up quite late. The house felt so quiet that he thought for a moment that everyone had gone. He was disabused of that notion when he got down to the kitchen and found Hermione, holding a tea cup between her hands and evidently sobbing. The boy debated for a moment if it would be best to leave her with her sorrow. He didn't want to intrude, but he was hungry. He decided to be civil and perhaps left as soon as possible. So, he entered and nodded at the girl in greeting before going and fix himself a sandwich. Then he sat at the table and proceeded to eat it in awkward silence, hearing the quiet sobs of the Gryffindor girl.

He didn't know if he should say something to her. He had no practice comforting people and he didn't want to screw tings up. He had started to like Hermione's personality, even if he found some of her ideas a bit bizarre. She was an interesting and powerful witch and he had been learning to appreciate her many quirks. He felt uncomfortable seeing her cry. Like he was imposing on a private moment. He needed to at least try and make peace with her. Maybe she'd appreciate the intention.

He debated what to say while he finished his sandwich and poured some tea. Then he looked at her and coughed slightly to get her attention. She turned with a sad look in her eyes.

"I… I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry. You know for you and Potter. Both of you miss Weasley so much…"

He bit his lip. He didn't know if he was saying the right words. Hermione had narrowed her eyes curiously at him. He sighed and tried to continue.

"I think he's gonna make it. He's so stubborn he'll probably refuse to let both of you behind. All you had to do is mention that I'm still here in the house the next time you visit him and he'll wake only for making sure that I'm not causing you troubles."

Hermione blinked at him and then smiled sadly. He didn't know what else to say, so he sat down again and sipped at his tea. After a short while, the girl talked to him.

"Thank you Malfoy."

"You're welcome."

She was still smiling and the tears had stopped. The blond felt like he had achieved a small victory.

"You know, I think Harry's right. There is something different in you."

Draco was about to answer when the kitchen door opened and Ginny Weasley entered. The red-head stopped dead upon discovering Malfoy and gave him a venomous glare.

"What are you doing here?"

Malfoy sneered at her, immediately replacing his relaxed posture with his usual cold façade. In the five days that the Weasleys had been living in the house he and the weaselette had been avoiding each other like the plague and he had been quite content with that. He didn't want to even look at the girl if he could help it.

"Until now Weasley I was enjoying a cup of tea in acceptable company. Too bad all good things must come to an end."

Ginny looked furious and she actually took out her wand. Hermione's eyes widened in surprise and she stayed frozen in shock while the red-headed girl threatened the Slytherin boy.

"Go away Malfoy! MY friend and I want to talk in peace!"

"Ginny! What are you doing?"

The girl ignored Hermione, her attention for the moment only directed at Malfoy. The blond made a sound of disgust and stood up. He had no wish to confront a volatile Weasley when his magic was so low.

"Don't waste your breath Granger. Some people are not worth it."

He abandoned the kitchen with as much dignity as he could muster in the circumstances. Ginny growled at the kitchen door when the boy had disappeared.

"The big prick! I wish he rots in hell!"

"Ginny what's gotten into you? That was incredibly rude and absolutely unnecessary!"

The Weasley girl rounded on Hermione with a perplexed look on her face.

"Rude? Unnecessary? Don't tell me you were capable of enjoying your tea with that perv in the same room!"

"As a matter of fact, we were having a civil conversation! And he's not some depraved character from a TV-show or anything equally ridiculous!"

"From a what?"

Hermione huffed in annoyance and rubbed her eyes. She felt so tired and didn't want to discuss with the other girl.

"Just forget it would you? Seriously Ginny, you need to at least try and be more tolerant! For your own good."

"Oh, please Hermione! It's nothing less than the faggot deserves! Let's not talk about that prat anymore; I need to tell you something."

Ginny sat on a chair beside Hermione, not noticing the angry scowl that her friend had in her face. The bushy-haired girl was mentally counting to ten, trying to remember that Ginny was a friend and that Malfoy after all had still six years of nastiness to answer for.

"Ok. What do you want to talk about?"

The girl rubbed her hands a bit in nervousness, not so sure that confide in Hermione was a good idea, but aware that there was no one else she could get counsel from.

"Well, you see, I'm not happy at all with the breaking up with Harry. And to be frank, the way he has been acting scares me. I don't want to lose him Hermione. I need to get him to stay with me. I don't care about the supposed danger from You-Know-Who; we are all in danger anyway! But he insisted in keeping me apart, and since we got stuck with Malfoy the situation went from bad to worse!"

'_Duh, maybe that's because your attitude has been bordering in psychotic?'_ Thought Hermione with acidity, but she remained silent and let Ginny continue.

"I had a plan you know? To get Harry to acknowledge our love and to show him that I won't let him push me away. I was waiting for a chance to implement my plan, and then the attack happened and… well, Harry has been supportive and more attentive, and now that we are living in the same house again I can make sure that Malfoy stays well away from him. So far it seems that he finally feels uncomfortable in the prat's presence."

Hermione scowled in curiosity. She had not been paying much attention to her surroundings the last couple of days and hadn't noticed any change on Harry's behaviour. She had been vaguely aware of the blond not been present at breakfast, but frankly she had not cared as long as everybody had left her alone to be miserable in peace. She bit her lip and decided that it was time to start observing her friends again.

"So, what do you need of me Ginny?"

"Well, things seem to be getting back to what they should be by themselves, but maybe if I put my plan into action I could give them a push? What do you think? I need to get Harry back to me and the sooner the better."

"Mmm, well, what is your plan?"

"I prepared a vial of lust potion and spiked a bottle of firewhiskey with it…"

"You what?"

Hermione widened her eyes in shock, not quite believing what Ginny was telling her. The red-head turned to her with a condescending look.

"I want him to make love to me Hermione. I want him to see how much I love him and to feel my passion. I need him to realize how perfect we are for each other, to convince him that we can't live apart!"

"And you decided that drugging him was the way to do that? No Ginny! It's not going to work that way! Harry would hate it!"

"Why? He loves me Hermione! And a lust potion is not a drug; it'll only help him to ignore his ridicule rationalizations…!"

"And take away his self-control! Ginny do you know how much Harry hates to be manipulated and lied to?"

"I'll do no such thing!"

"Oh, so you're going to politely ask him if you can serve him a spiked drink?"

"No, but…"

"The lust potion is a restricted product for a reason Ginny! I can't believe you seriously thought to do this to Harry! Did you leave the bottle in the Burrow?"

"Well, no. Actually I left it here in the kitchen."

"Here?"

Hermione was alarmed now. Ginny didn't seem to understand what exactly the problem was. It was such a simple and good plan for her.

"Yes, in that empty cabinet." The girl signalled to her hiding place, a bit confused at her friend's reaction. She had expected Hermione to reassure her that her plan wasn't necessary after all, and that Harry would return to her without prompting. She hadn't expected the brunette to be so flustered. Ginny didn't quite understand what was so bad about her plan. Hermione stood and walked decidedly to the cabinet, intent on getting rid of the nasty beverage.

"That's the stupidest and most irresponsible thing to do Ginny! What if someone had drank it?"

"Relax Hermione, I warded the cabinet… oh."

Ginny interrupted herself when Hermione yanked open the cabinet door without problem.

"So much for wards! Where is it Ginny?"

The red-haired witch ran to her friend's side, looking wide-eyed at the very empty cabinet. She even reached over and ran her hand a couple of times along the shelves.

"It… It's gone!"

"Gone! Are you sure you left it here?"

"Of course I'm sure! I wanted to have it at hand and Harry gets into the kitchen sometimes for a midnight snack! I had hoped to intercept him here!"

"Oh God!"

Hermione wriggled her hands and started pacing back and fort.

"Where could it be…? Wait, we can ask! Dobby!"

The house-elf popped into existence and grinned exuberantly at Hermione.

"Dobby here misses. How can Dobby help misses?"

"Dobby, there was a bottle of firewhiskey in this cabinet. You don't happen to know who took it, do you?"

Ginny stood at Hermione's side, watching the elf anxiously. She didn't like the idea of someone discovering her. Dobby straightened and flapped his ears a few times.

"Elder Ma'am Weasley ordered no alcohol in house! None for young masters and misses! Master Harry Potter ordered elves was to follow Ma'am Weasley orders! She telling us elves to rid house of liquor!"

"Molly?"

The elf nodded enthusiastically. Hermione thought for a minute and then relaxed. She remembered Molly Weasley giving that instruction some months ago. Surely the house-elves had continued obeying to it, since no one had told them otherwise.

"So, you disposed of it?"

"You throw it away? All of it?" Said Ginny, a bit upset that her potion had been wasted. Dobby looked indignant.

"We elves always do duty. Duty is most important!"

"It's all right Dobby. You did well. Thank you."

The elf nodded and disappeared. Hermione sighed in relief and turned to look at the Weasley girl, who had sat again and had crossed her arms, sulking.

"I'm glad that no one had taken the firewhiskey, who knows what could have happened Ginny?"

"It was perfectly safe from others."

"Whatever." Hermione walked to her chair again and sat, facing Ginny's direction. She took a deep breath and tried to get her sulking friend into a better mood. "Look, I know that it's difficult. Harry has not been the boyfriend you would expect, but you can hardly blame him for that. After all, neither of us has lived with a madman trying to murder us."

Ginny sighed in resignation and relaxed her arms.

"I suppose you're right."

"Of course I am. Don't get desperate Ginny, everything will sort itself. You'll see. Besides, it's no use pushing Harry. If you do it he'll get all defensive and will block you out. Believe me, that's what he always do."

"Fine. I won't push him. But I don't want him to forget that I'm here for him. I'll just make sure to be around whenever he needs me."

"Don't worry Ginny. He won't forget. Well, I'm going to take a bath. Surely your mom and the others will be here shortly. I'll see you later."

The bushy-haired girl got up and abandoned the kitchen, leaving Ginny behind to sulk a bit and to think.


	14. Revelation

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Chapter 13. ****Revelation.**

Harry closed the book he had been reading with an angry huff and unnecessary force. He was very tempted to throw it away too, but the last time he had done that Hermione had been present and she had had a fit over it. He was utterly frustrated. It was almost three weeks since the attack on the Ministry of Magic and things seemed to have reached the point where everyone was scared and paranoid enough to barricade in home and not move a finger to make them better. At least that was the impression Harry got. Mrs. Weasley had brought a wireless from the Burrow, but there was nothing important to hear. No news, no Ministry trying to reassure people, not a call for everybody to prepare for the worst. Nothing! Only endless hours of listening to the Weird Sisters, among other wizarding bands. It was as if the war didn't exist!

Harry had already given up waiting for some kind of movement from the Ministry and had redoubled his efforts on his research and his training. The last had been much more difficult without Remus. Harry sighed, thinking about the last Marauder. Lupin had not been present at the attack on the Ministry. It had been a full moon and so the werewolf had been in one of the Order's safe locations all day and night. Therefore he hadn't known about the attack or it's consequences until the day after. Once he had, he had spiralled into a state of depression. He had disappeared to only Merlin knew where and had not even gone to the funerals. He hadn't got in touch with anyone since then. Molly had started to really worry about him and had pleaded McGonagall to organize a search, but the elder witch had been hesitant. The Order had suffered serious damage and, if one was realistic, tracking a werewolf would take days on end.

Between indecisions and a minor Death Eater attack in London, Remus' whereabouts were left in peace for the moment. Harry was angry and disappointed. He was sure that Dumbledore would have done something. The inactivity that everyone was displaying was disheartening. As things were, Harry had had to continue his duelling training. He was trying to keep up and not to let guilt over Remus distract him from his goal. Moody had been helpful, supervising his training whenever he could and demanding more of the youngsters in their physical training. Hermione's birthday had also passed in relative calmness, the girl not being in mood to celebrate anything; Molly had just baked a cake to not let the day be ignored.

Harry glared at the library in general. Among other things, it annoyed him the fact that his search for the Horcruxes was at a dead end. Hermione and he had not been able to track any more clues to the last Horcrux. In addition, they couldn't get out of the house in order to explore the only place they had found out that was likely to appeal to Voldemort as a hiding place. And last, they hadn't found a way to dispose of the remaining Horcruxes safely. Harry didn't want somebody to get hurt while destroying them, and it annoyed him to not know enough about them. With as little information as they had, there was no way to predict how the blasted things would react.

Harry rubbed his eyes tiredly and was arguing with himself about the necessity to have patience when Draco entered the room. The blond deposited a load of potions' books on the table where Harry had been making some notes and let himself fall on one of the coaches, looking tired.

The Gryffindor bit his lip and tensed. Things with Malfoy had been awkward. Even when the blond had assured Harry that he didn't blame him for what had happened, the black-haired boy just couldn't take out of his mind the tiny patch of blood that had stained his sheets, besides, Malfoy had been skipping breakfast and spending most of his time whether in the potions lab or in his room. Harry was convinced that the blond was avoiding him. Even Moody had told them that Malfoy would not be taking part in their training anymore, supposedly because of the necessity for more complicated potions, but surely Draco had asked for that favour. Harry had tried to not upset the boy and had not intruded in the blonde's room, but he didn't like the situation one bit. He wanted to make things right between them, but he didn't know what to do.

Malfoy sighed and turned his head to look at Harry. He managed a weak smile before saying:

"Spit it Potter, I can feel your indecision all the way over here."

Harry blushed and coughed. He bit his lip and started to wriggle his hands.

"Sorry. I just… sorry. I don't know what to say. I-I suppose you want to be alone?"

Draco sighed resignedly. Harry was not supposed to still be feeling guilty over the night they had shared. He stood up and moved to another coach nearest the boy.

"Look Potter. I don't know what you're thinking, I thought that you wanted to forget what happened that night, but evidently you haven't and I swear I can see your guilt oozing out of you. Please, what do you want me to say to convince you that you didn't do anything wrong?"

Harry looked at him with pain and something like desperation in his eyes. Draco almost gasped at the sight.

"How can you say that? I forced you Draco!"

"No, you didn't…"

"Please, don't tell me I didn't I know I did! And I know I hurt you, there was blood on the sheets!"

Draco's eyes widened in surprise. He remembered that he had felt a bit sore, but he had thought nothing of it. There always was soreness after a night like the one he had spent. He hadn't realized that a bit of blood would have likely been expected.

"What?"

"You bleed! That means that I hurt you enough to ripe something! Don't tell me you were unaware of it!"

"Actually I… well, I did feel a bit sore, but nothing so serious. I distinctly remember that I could walk just fine, so there surely wasn't a huge pool of blood in your bed!"

"Well… no, not so much… but surely it's not normal!"

Draco bit his lip before he said something ungracious. He remembered that it had been Harry's first time, so obviously the boy wouldn't know what was "normal" and what wasn't. Unfortunately Draco couldn't very well enlighten him without one: uncover his secret or at least part of it; or two: making Harry feel even more guilty due to his realizing that there was something called lube, usually needed for two men to engage in sexual activities in a comfortable way. He thought hard about what to tell the boy that could ease him, but he took too long and Harry jumped to his own conclusions.

"I knew it! I just knew I had hurt you!"

"Harry, look…"

"No! Don't try to make me feel better about abusing you! I had no right to do that, and you know it! That's why you have been avoiding me!"

"What? I have not, I only have been feeling tired that's all!"

Harry took a deep breath and moved his hands through his hair, trying to calm himself. Then he looked at Malfoy apologetically.

"It's all right. I can understand that you don't want to be near me too much, I really can."

Draco closed his eyes and almost groaned in utter frustration.

"You are misunderstanding this Potter! I don't want to avoid you; I just wanted some space, that doesn't mean that I despise you or something like that. Really."

That was more like it. Harry was convinced that the Slytherin only wanted to make him feel better and he wouldn't accept his true feelings on the matter. But he had accepted to need some space and Harry was ready to respect that.

"That's ok. I do know that we will need some time. I only want to know if you really are fine now."

He gave a tentative smile to the blond. Draco looked at him with some anger, but almost immediately his eyes softened and he sighed.

"Don't worry about it. It's been almost three weeks."

Harry's anxious face frustrated the blond to no end. Were all Gryffindors so prone to guilt? He didn't think so; it must be only Harry Potter's unique talent to worry so much about something he actually didn't have any control over.

"I swear I'm fine Harry. Not soreness, not bleeding either, not even a drop. Please believe me. I'm not going to suddenly collapse only because you were a bit rough three weeks ago, I promise."

Harry blushed and coughed again to hide his embarrassment.

"Ok, if you're sure…"

Draco nodded at him and looked away, evidently a bit embarrassed himself. Harry felt slightly more at ease, but not exactly better.

"Ok, well… I'm going to the kitchen for a snack." He stood up and walked slowly to the door, turning around before exiting. "You do look a bit tired. You should rest."

"I'm only going to look for a book that I need. Then maybe I'll go to my room."

"Ok. See you."

Malfoy looked sadly as Harry went away and then slouched in the coach, sighing tiredly. Things were not supposed to be this way. Harry was supposed to forget that fateful night, or at least try and act like it had never happened. Draco didn't know what to do. He supposed that with time the Gryffindor boy would get over it, but the look of guilt on Potter's face was killing him. He couldn't let that burden on the boy's shoulders, especially when what had happened had been Draco's fault and not Harry's. He had to do something to fix the situation, preferably without being sent away in the process.

* * *

Harry sat at the kitchen table and looked morosely at a cup of tea while he nibbled a cracker. He was feeling depressed. He couldn't do anything about Voldemort and he didn't know what to do about Malfoy. He didn't like to feel so useless. He was solely pitying himself when Hermione entered. Just looking at her tired face reminded him of his guilt over Ron and he groaned in frustration and buried his head in his crossed arms. The girl turned to look at him with concern.

"Harry, are you all right?"

A muffled voice answered her, the boy not bothering to lift his head.

"I should just let myself be killed and be done with it. Maybe everyone would be happier that way."

"Harry James Potter! Don't ever say things like that!"

She walked over to sit beside him and put a hand on his back, rubbing in small circles.

"What's the matter Harry?"

"Besides being an utter failure? Not much I think."

"What makes you think that? Harry, you shouldn't be feeling like that."

The boy straightened and looked tiredly at his friend.

"How do you want me to feel Hermione? I got Tonks killed and Ron into a coma! I don't know where Remus is, and I have not been able to find a way to destroy the rest of the Horcruxes. I can't face Voldemort yet, so I'm not able to finish this stupid war! And Malfoy…! Nevermind."

Hermione noticed the blush that invaded Harry's face and frowned. She took one of his friend's hands and made him look at her.

"Harry, listen. None of those things were your fault."

"But I…"

"This is a war Harry. The only one responsible of all the tragedies that had happened is the one who started all this! You didn't kill Tonks and you certainly didn't force Ron to be there with you! There was no way for you to know that someone was going to try and kill Nagini! You didn't even know that the snake was there!"

"If I haven't gone the trap would never had triggered…"

"And maybe Voldemort would have taken over the Ministry of Magic and by now he probably would have complete control over Britain. There's no way to know what could have happened Harry. What is happening now is that the Minister has set office in an unknown location and Voldemort appears to be weakened enough to lay low for a while. We must find the way to take advantage of this respite and not to dwell on what could have been."

"What about Ron and Remus?"

"I'm sure that Ron will return to us, as well as Remus. Professor Lupin only needs time to cope with his loss. And Ron is strong, he will make it, you'll see."

Harry pressed tightly his lips together and finally gave a deep sigh.

"I suppose you're right. It's only that I feel like I should be doing more, like I'm not moving fast enough."

"You are not a God Harry. You have your limitations; it's ridiculous to expect that you alone should be able to resolve this mess. You can't do this alone Harry and you certainly can't do it immediately. It will take its time."

"Yeah. I know."

"Good. Now, what were you going to say about Malfoy? Has something happened with him?"

The blush on Harry's cheeks returned and the boy flustered a bit, avoiding Hermione's eyes.

"Eerr, nothing. Nothing really. He just has been taking potions seriously, that's all."

"Well, that's good doesn't it? We need many potions, healing ones above all. Is that really all Harry?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm only… you know a bit worried… he has been tiring himself, I think."

"He does look tired. But I'm sure that he can manage it. Don't you think so?"

"Yes, yes of course."

Hermione looked at the nervous face of her friend and nibbled her lower lip. There was something worrying Harry and it had to do with Malfoy. Hermione was not sure of it, but it looked like Harry was feeling guilty. She could not phantom why her friend would be feeling guilty over Malfoy, but it evidently was depressing the boy. She needed to know if something had happened between the two rivals, so she could help her friend. She took gently Harry's chin and forced him to face her. The pained look in his eyes made her want to strangle the one responsible for it and she was determined to find out who it was.

"Harry, what is it? What did Malfoy do?"

Harry huffed and tried to get up from the chair. Hermione caught his arm and didn't let him go.

"He didn't do anything, ok? It was me!"

"You? Harry what…? Come on Harry look at me! I have noticed that Malfoy is not around us as much as he used to anymore, but I thought that was because we have been engrossed with the training. Ginny mentioned once that you didn't feel comfortable around him anymore…"

"That's not true! Where did she get that idea?"

"I suppose that from observing you! I have been watching you too Harry, you look nervous when he is around and you don't talk to him as much as you did when he first arrived. Is something to do with Moody banishing him from the training? What happened Harry?"

The boy shook himself free from Hermione's grasp and started to pace back and forth, tugging at his hair all the time. Hermione watched him worriedly, anxious to ask him more questions but not wanting to pressure him. Finally Harry sighed and put his hands in his pants' pockets.

"Herm, I did something unforgivable and I don't know what to do about it. I'm afraid that if I tell you what I did you are going to hate me."

Hermione stood and embraced her best friend, then grabbed him by his arms and looked directly into his eyes.

"Oh Harry, nothing that you did could make me hate you. I'm your friend, and I know that you are a wonderful person. Surely it must be a misunderstanding. Whatever it is Harry, I'm sure it was not your fault."

"Ha. Funny, Malfoy said the same thing. He actually tried to convince me that he is as much to blame as I."

"Well, that proves it Harry. You are letting your conscience to torment you because you are a good person, but if Malfoy has not yet complained to the entire world about how mean and horrible you are, I'm sure that it really is nothing serious."

Harry groaned and closed his eyes. He felt about to scream.

"But that's exactly the problem 'Mione, it IS serious! I don't know why Malfoy has not said anything, I think maybe he's afraid, or he's trying to cover me, but I don't know why or what to do about it! I'm just lost 'Mione."

"Well, why don't you tell me what happened. I'm willing to help you Harry."

The boy took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He couldn't bear to look at Hermione while he was telling her the truth.

"I… I raped him Herm. I raped Draco Malfoy."

That was it. He had told her. And now she was going to hate him. He listened to her shocked gasp and waited for her to run away from him. That however never happened. Hermione put one of her hands on her cheek, caressing his skin and forcing him to open his eyes.

"That can't be true Harry. Tell me, how that happened?"

Harry told her the entire tale; how he had arrived to Grimmauld place broken and desperate and how Malfoy had found him collapsed at the end of the stairs, utterly drunk, and had attempted to help him into his room. He told her how he had jumped the blond as soon as they had entered the bedroom, of the impossibility for him to stop and of the blood that he had discovered after Malfoy had assured him that he had wanted it to happen and that Harry had not hurt him.

The Gryffindor was so engrossed telling his friend the reasons why Malfoy must had been lying that he almost missed the girl's pallor. At some point Hermione had dragged the frantic boy over to the chairs again and they were now seated facing each other. Harry looked worriedly at the girl and took one of her hands between his. Hermione started to cry.

"Oh shit! Hermione I'm so sorry, I knew I shouldn't have told you! You are going to hate me now, and it will be right because I did something horrible and…!"

"No Harry, no!" Hermione interrupted the boy's tirade and tried to compose herself. She needed to confirm her suspicions first, and then she was going to kill a certain red- head.

"Tell me Harry, where did you get the firewhiskey?"

"Sorry? Why?"

"Believe me, it's important Harry, where did you get it?"

"I asked Kreacher for some alcohol. I don't know where he found it. Why Herm?"

The girl didn't explain anything to him; instead she called for the old elf and asked him where he had gotten the firewhiskey. At Harry's order to answer the girl truthfully, the elf reluctantly explained that the Master had wanted liquor, but due to Mrs. Weasley's order to ride the house of it the elf hadn't been able to get any but the one bottle that had been found in a kitchen cabinet. It had been the only one in the entire house and so the elf, following his Master's wishes, had presented it to him. Hermione gave her thanks to the creature and proceeded to cover her face with her hands when it was gone. Harry was starting to fret. He pulled his chair near to hers and tried to embrace her.

"Herm, what's the matter?"

"Oh Harry, it wasn't your fault! The firewhiskey… Oh gods!"

"Easy Herm. Calm down."

Hermione dried her tears and looked into her friend's eyes, trying to get some focus.

"Harry. Malfoy is right; it is not your fault! Neither is his, none of you are to blame for this! Actually, if we do a bit of reasoning, Malfoy is very lucky to have felt attracted to you, I'm inclined to think that he was telling you the truth and he didn't mind you jumping him."

"What? I- I'm not following you Hermione. Why it was not my fault?"

"Because Harry, the firewhiskey was tampered."

The boy blinked once in confusion, not fully registering what Hermione was trying to tell him.

"What?"

"The firewhiskey you drank that night had been altered Harry. I-I know you are going to be mad and this probably is going to make you turn away from someone you love, but I can't let you carry this burden. You don't deserve to believe this of yourself! You are not a rapist Harry; you never could do something so horrible to anyone! You didn't get drunk. You ingested lust potion!"

Harry gaped at her and all colour left his face. He sat back in the chair and shook his head, trying to clear it.

"A lust potion? But how? How do you know this Hermione? Do you who it was?" He straightened again and grabbed his friend by her arms, his anger threatening to get control of him. "Of course you know! Who was it Herm? Tell me!"

The girl nodded miserably and sniffed twice before answering.

"I-it was Ginny. She told me some days ago that she had this plan to make you go back to her. She was desperate. I told her to forget it and I looked for the bottle, but when Dobby told me that he had followed Molly's orders to rid the house of alcohol I just assumed that he had found the firewhiskey later and had disposed of it too. I never asked him directly about that specific bottle. I should have! I'm so sorry Harry; you should have known this sooner. All this time you have been feeling guilty about this when you are not to blame! The lust potion makes the one who drink it to lose self-control entirely. The only thing in the mind of one affected is to shag the first person he or she sees and will not stop at anything until reaching that goal. If the potion was potent enough not even a stunner would have stopped you, as soon as you had come back to your senses you would have looked for Malfoy. I'm really sorry Harry."

Harry was barely reigning in his anger. He couldn't believe that Ginny had made a thing like that. He could have seriously hurt anyone who had happened to be in front of him at the time!

"So, Malfoy couldn't have stopped me, even if he had wanted to."

"No Harry, he wouldn't have had a chance, especially without a wand. That's why I think he really wanted it to happen; if he had put on a fight he would have been seriously injured. In a way it is fortunate that he was already attracted to you, I'm sure that he was more than happy to comply."

"Are you sure about that? What about the blood?"

"Don't think too much about it Harry. You said it was only a patch, right?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"Maybe you hurt him a bit, I accept that. It can happen if you didn't prepare him enough before the penetration, and I don't think that you're that experienced, so probably you didn't do it right. But even if you did hurt him, I think it must probable that the pain had lasted only a few seconds, after that I bet that Malfoy had had other more pressing matters to keep him occupied."

By the time Hermione finished her insight, Harry's anger had been replaced almost entirely by embarrassment. He looked at his friend with horrified eyes.

"Jezz Hermione! How can you talk about it with such normality?"

"Oh please Harry, be an adult. It's nothing from another world!"

"Well, no but… Mmm, I think we better leave it at that."

He stood up and paced around the kitchen. His anger returning as he inevitably considered all the terrible ways that night could have turned into.

"I can't believe this! What the hell has gotten into Ginny's head? This… This was so wrong! Didn't she think about what could happen? What the fuck she expected to gain?"

"As I understand it, she was expecting you to realize that she needs you Harry, and for you to remember that you love each other. She certainly never thought about the possibility of her not been the one in front of you when you drank the potion."

"And she seriously thought that I… that I would be happy with this? She's out of her mind! That she is! What the hell she thinks I am? She didn't even consider the possibility of ASKING ME what I fucking bloody want! That's not love Hermione, that's bloody obsession!"

"She's been desperate Harry and she's taking bad decisions. She doesn't like the fact that you pay less attention to her now, and she wants you to return to her."

"Well, she can fucking forget it! I left her for a reason and I expected her to respect that! Besides, I have been thinking about this relationship of ours and frankly I was starting to ask myself if I am actually in love with Ginny. Somehow it just didn't look like we would be right for each other in the long term. Now I'm completely sure, she's not the one I want to spend my life with! Not with what she attempted to do! How can I ever trust her now? This is it Hermione, I'm done with her! After this mess of a war is over I don't want to have anything to do with her anymore!"

He walked decidedly to the door, not wanting to lose it and start to break things in front of Hermione. The girl called after him worriedly.

"Harry, what are you going to do?"

The boy stopped at the doorframe and looked over his shoulder at her.

"I guess I'm going to hex some plants or the mats at the training room. I really don't want to see anybody right now. And well, maybe after that I'll go and tell Draco the story. He has the right to know. That way we both can stop trying to blame ourselves and maybe we can go back to speak normally to each other."

Harry left and Hermione sighed and relaxed in the chair. She knew Harry was not going to forgive Ginny, but what had happened could have been a lot worse. Harry was never going to forget that he could have been turned into a rapist because of the girl that supposedly loved him. Hermione felt angry and disappointed at the red-head. The Weasley witch had, with one stupid move, destroyed any chance to be with the man she loved.

* * *

Draco looked morosely at the book in front of him. He had spent about half an hour staring at the list of ingredients for the Paracelsus potion. He couldn't take out of his mind Harry's guilty expression. It was not right for the Gryffindor to believe that he had taken advantage of Draco when in fact it had been the blond boy the one taking advantage of Harry's inebriated state. After long consideration he decided to ignore Snape's instruction to not tell Potter anything about Sally or the problem he was immersed into. Fuck Snape! Harry had every right to know what was happening, and anyway, eventually he would have to know about the Rainbow Dragons and the necessity for them to come back if the magical world was going to survive. Why shouldn't Draco tell him now when the boy could be a valuable help for him?

The only problem was how to tell Potter about the lust spell without the Gryffindor murdering Draco as soon as he realized that the Slytherin had practically used him. Malfoy put the book away and tried to think of a suitable way to explain things to Harry. He started to doze and felt Sally carefully moving him into a comfortable position. He tried to tell her that it was not necessary, that he was going to get up and go to his bed in an instant, but his eyes closed by themselves and he supposed that a little rest couldn't be bad.

He woke up to someone calling his name and gently shocking his shoulder. He moaned and didn't want to open his eyes. It felt so good to have them closed.

"Draco? Malfoy? Don't you want to go to your room? You'll be more comfortable."

The blond blinked lazily at the pair of worried green eyes that were hovering over him and yawned. The green eyes frowned.

"Maybe I should tell Mad eye that you're overexerting yourself. You're too tired and you only had been looking for some potions' recipes, well, at least that's what I know."

"Don't bother. I'm fine, just a bit bored."

He stretched on the coach and then sat up to face the Gryffindor.

"There's not much to do in this house, so I tend to sleep more."

"If you say so."

Draco smiled at the Gryffindor's worry. Perhaps it was as good a time as ever to come clean and tell the truth. He remembered all his made over speeches and thought he was adequately prepared to confront any wave of fury on the golden boy's part.

"Listen, I want to talk with you about something. It's concerning what happened between us… you know… that night. There's something you should know…"

"Wait." Harry interrupted, frowning at the blond. In no way he was going to allow this silliness to go on. "If you are about to once again blame yourself of what happened you can forget it."

"But it was my fault, if you let me explain…"

"It was Ginny's fault!"

Draco gaped like a fish at Harry's words, barely aware of the anger that had filtered in to the Gryffindor's eyes.

"What?"

"You hear right. That selfish, obsessed brat! I'm still so angry at her!"

"You're not making any sense Harry. How could Weasley have anything to do with this?"

"You wouldn't believe what she did! You remember the firewhiskey?"

"Yes?" Said Draco carefully, something in his gut was telling him to be prepared for a nasty surprise.

"She put lust potion into it! According to Hermione she wanted me to realize that she can't live without me or some shit like that! She just wanted me to fuck her and she didn't care what I had to say about that! Can you believe it? I mean, she didn't even ask my opinion! She just assumed that I would be only too glad to lay with her!"

Draco swallowed; suddenly he wasn't so sure about the convenience to come out with his own confession. Harry looked very angry now.

"A-are you sure?"

"Yes! Hermione would never make up something like this!"

"Granger told you this, you say?"

"Yeah. I was moping around and she found me. She wanted to know what my problem was and I ended up telling her about us. She was so upset and she told me all the truth. Apparently Ginny had just confessed this to her some days ago. Just imagine what could have happened! If you had been a girl I could even have gotten you pregnant! That would have been terrible! To have such a responsibility right now is the last thing I need! If Ginny is capable of concocting such a plan just to get me to fuck her I don't want to know what she'll try to do if we were in any kind of long-term relationship! I don't want to spend my life with someone like that!"

Ok. It was definitely not the best moment for Draco to drop his tiny piece of news onto Harry. Now that he knew how bad the Gryffindor would react to news like his, complete with a future baby, he was only too glad to leave the entire burden on the Weasley girl's shoulders.

"The… bitch! I suppose that she'll try to excuse herself?"

"Frankly I don't want to talk with her at all. I'm still very angry at her and I don't want to say something that I'll regret. I'll talk to her when I'm calm and I'll make it clear that I don't want anything to do with her."

"That'd be the best I think."

"Yeah."

"And… now you can stop feeling guilty over what happened?"

Harry gave him a rueful smile.

"Well, it certainly helps a lot… Only…"

"What?" Draco lifted an eyebrow at the other boy in expectation.

"Now I also feel cheated somehow! And I feel like I lost the opportunity to know you better."

Malfoy's eyes widened in surprise and he stood and got closer to the Gryffindor.

"Whatever gave you that idea?"

"Well, I don't really think that we can act friendly as we were doing. Something has changed between us, you can't deny it."

"That doesn't mean that we have to act like complete strangers now. And why shouldn't we be friendly? That doesn't make sense!"

Harry blushed and fidgeted a bit with the hem of his shirt.

"So, you wouldn't feel uncomfortable if I'm too close to you?"

"Of course not! Harry I… I do like you. What Weasley did was horrible and it could have caused a catastrophe, but it didn't. Not for me at least. I told you before, I wanted to be with you, but, well, you are straight, so I really had no chance whatsoever."

Harry bit his lip, remembering all the embarrassing wet dreams he had had about the blond over the previous month. He looked into the boy's eyes shyly.

"I-I do like women, but… I-I… don't know. This time we have spent together… I think that I'm beginning to like you. Maybe I'm bi?"

"Ummm, well…"

Harry looked insecure. Draco smiled at him, ready to tell him that surely the slight attraction he had felt had been just curiosity. After all, without the lust spell, he surely didn't feel it anymore, so he would not have to worry about that. But before he could open his mouth, without any prompting, Harry closed the distance between them and brushed the blonde's lips with his. Draco blinked and touched his lips gingerly while Harry licked his and blushed fiercely.

"I- I just…"

"Harry!"

Draco turned in time to dodge the hex that was coming his way and quickly sought cover between the couches. The Gryffindor boy had already took out his wand and was casting protection shields against the flow of spells that Ginny was sending Malfoy's way.

"Stop! Ginny stop this!"

"You! You pervert bastard! How dare you touch him! He's not like you! And he'll never be like your kind!"

"Ginny! I said stop! Expelliarmus!"

The girl's wand flew directly to Harry's extended hand and she shrieked and tried to reach the blond, clearly intending to cause physical damage. Harry intercepted her and roughly grabbed her arms to contain her.

"That's enough Ginny! You are not going to harm him!"

"Harry how could you!"

"Shut up already! I don't have anything to explain to you!"

Weasley looked horrified at him. Draco took the chance to slip away to the door. He wanted to be as far away as he could from the confrontation that was sure to follow. Harry only glanced quickly his way to make sure that he had not been injured and focused again on the girl.

"Listen up Ginny, I'm tired of this! You're going to leave Malfoy alone and behave!"

"Ha-Harry, you can not expect me to not protect what is mine!"

"That's another thing Ginny, stop acting as if we were going to marry soon! We have nothing between us! I don't want anything with you! I'm not going to marry you and that's final!"

The gobsmacked look on the girl's face lasted only seconds before incredulity and anger replaced it.

"What? Don't joke like that Harry! Why didn't you want us to act like the couple we are? It's not use to hide it here! You know perfectly well that when You-Know-Who is finally dead we're going to be married! We are going to have a perfect normal family, like everyone is expecting!"

"I give a damn about what everyone wants! I'm not marrying a person that puts lust potion in a drink without a think about the consequences! I'm not marrying someone that doesn't give a damn about what I think or feel!"

Ginny was speechless for a moment and then the anger crept to her face again. She could not believe Hermione had betrayed her like that!

"Hermione told you? She was not supposed to tell you! I wanted only her advice and nothing happened anyway! She had no reason to tell you!"

"No reason? What about trust Ginny? That there were no tragic consequences makes it right for a friend to betray the trust of another? Besides, the fact that you didn't get to do the deed doesn't mean that nothing happened!"

"What do you mean?" The girl was confused. She had not betrayed anyone's trust; she had just planed the way for Harry to get back to her faster. But the boy's last statement threw her out of line.

"Lets just say that if you see Draco and I far too close for comfort you have no one to blame but yourself."

Ginny gaped at Harry's retreating back and felt numb all over her. Finally she screamed and fall to the floor into a tight ball, crying.


	15. Ginny’s Obsession

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Author's note:** I think I screwed up with the canon time line, but then again that's why this is an AU.

**WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER: ****There's non-con and implied rape in this chapter. Not graphic, very light in fact, but it is there. If you don't want to know about it stop at the last separation (&&&&&&)**

**Chapter 14. ****Ginny's Obsession.**

Draco rested in a comfortable patch of sun in the garden. Normally he would never dream of doing such an undignified thing. Malfoys didn't lay all over the filthy grass, not even when a dragon was curled protectively around them. But the boy had decided to ignore the Malfoy's rules and send them packing. Anyway, his father would surely disinherit him as soon as he knew about Draco's child. So, there was no reason for him to give a damn anymore about his composure. He was enjoying the peace and quiet of the garden.

The last couple of days had been extremely tense in the house. The Weasley girl had stopped talking and broke into inconsolable tears each time she saw Harry. The entire house now knew that Harry had no intention to go back with the weasselette once the war was over, but the Gryffindor boy had refused to explain the reasons why; however, the twins had been speculating, and judging by their looks each time they saw Harry and Draco together, the blond feared the conclusion their overexcited minds would supply.

The Slytherin tried to avoid company the majority of the time. He was starting to be annoyed by the death glares the weasselette kept sending him and the constant prying eyes of the twins. He also was intrigued with Harry's behaviour. The boy had returned to drag him out of his room for every meal, and had kept him company in the potions' lab the day before while he had been brewing. He sat beside him in the kitchen table, and had nearly embraced him when the both of them had been sitting in one of the library coaches, watching as Hermione practiced complex charms to make a bar of steel bend, and do figures in the air. Harry had been acting too friendly towards Draco, and the blond had the suspicion that the Gryffindor was still trying to compensate for their night together, and wanted to make sure that Draco had completely forgiven him.

The blond smiled thinking about Harry. He had been remorseful at first, especially because Harry's temporary lusting state hadn't been entirely Ginny's fault. The lust-spell had probably reinforced the potion's effect; it was even possible that the spell was most to blame than the potion, since Draco doubted the Weasley's brewing skills. But what little guilt he had felt over the girl had disappeared when he had met with Severus and Moody, and had been forced to explain what had happened, since Alastor had been at the time preoccupied about Potter. Draco had been embarrassed beyond belief, but had told them everything, including his previous intention to confess his part on the deed to Harry. Both men had been satisfied to have Ginny as a scapegoat, and had strongly advised Draco to shut his mouth and let things be.

They also had decided that the Weasley girl was an unpredictable factor and that the Slytherin boy should be as far away from her as possible. Snape had wanted to find a way for the Weasleys to be put in another location for safety, but it was improbable that Potter would allow it. They considered it fortunate that the Gryffindor boy had decided to get away from the girl by himself, that way it wouldn't be too obvious if the elves started to put obstacles for the two of them to be in the same room.

Draco had been puzzled at their vehemence, after all it had only been a lust-potion, it was not as if she had attempted to murder someone. But then Severus had explained to him that some of the lust-potion's ingredients were pretty unstable and tended to react badly with alcohol. The lust potion had to be ingested in the next 24 hours after its preparation or it increased its levels of toxicity, more so if it was mixed with alcohol, even a botched potion could become poisonous if left alone for a long time. Severus thought that the girl had used less than a quarter of potion with the firewhiskey, and that she hadn't managed a truly potent potion. Even then, the fact that Potter had not presented any symptoms of illness pointed to the house-elves' intervention. The creatures' magic would have allowed them to lessen the toxicity of the beverage at any time. However, even with the elves' aid, if the boy had finished the entire bottle of firewhiskey he could have been very ill, and it could have been worse if he or somebody else had found the bottle before the house-elves. There were cases of cardiac arrest in teenagers that had consumed lust potions with alcohol.

Draco had been very angry with the girl. If something had happened to Harry it would have been her fault! Fortunately there had not been dire consequences, but that didn't make her any less irresponsible. He was glad that Harry didn't want anything with her anymore.

The blond was falling into a light slumber when something blocked the sun. He opened his eyes to see Harry hovering over him. Draco smiled, but the other boy didn't say anything to him. Upon careful inspection, Harry's face looked… well, horrified would certainly suit it. Draco frowned and sat up.

"What? Has something happened Potter?" Even when they had agreed to call each other by their given names, sometimes Draco slipped. It just still felt weird to call the Gryffindor by his given name.

The dark haired boy blinked at the blond and pointed a finger to a spot near Draco's head.

"There… there was a… something. Something was here with you!"

Draco scowled, and quickly stood. Harry took a few steps and walked all over where the blond had been lying. After a few moments he turned around, looking at Malfoy with a lost expression.

"I could swear I saw something here with you! It was big and translucent! You were leaning on it!"

"Wha-what do you mean?"

"I know it sounds crazy, but I swear it looked like a dragon!"

Draco gaped at Harry. It was not possible! No one had ever been able to see Sally! Sally didn't exist in the material world, only in his mind! Harry shouldn't be able to see her! His expression must have been really comical because the Gryffindor looked at him and snorted.

"Jesus, you don't have to put that face. I know it's impossible. Besides, I really doubt that you could get that close to a real dragon and not be fried. It's just that, for a moment it really looked like something big was here."

Draco closed his mouth and swallowed. For a fleeting moment he was tempted to blurt out Sally's identity and see what happened, but the words refused to form. He needed to say something because Harry was starting to frown at him.

"Well… maybe it was my imaginary friend."

Harry huffed and rolled his eyes.

"No need to make fun of me. But I have no doubt that you surely had an imaginary dragon as friend when you were younger."

Draco composed himself and tried a tentative smile. Harry shrugged, and after a final suspicious look to the grass, proceeded to drag the blond to the kitchen for supper.

* * *

&&&&&&&&

Draco sat in the library with the Blacks' Dragon Book opened in the page that displayed the Potters' coat of arms. He wanted to see if Harry would notice it, if the Gryffindor could read the real Dragon Book then things would be easier to explain. Malfoy had done a bit of reading of his own in the Princes' book and had learned that when a wizard powerful enough to have a bond was about to reach his full magical potential he started to sense other bonds, and to attract the dragon's attention. It was possible that the wizard in question began to dream with dragons, and the chamber that contained the portal between the worlds. In some cases the wizard could even read the Book, and be attracted to the doors leading to the secret chamber. Sometimes a member of the future bonded wizard's family would take over mentorship and start guiding him into the knowledge of the Rainbow Dragons. If no family member was available then an elder bonded would take the place of mentor.

Draco had no doubt that Harry was going to have a bond. He didn't understand Snape's insistence on not telling the Gryffindor about the dragons, he was going to know sooner or later, in Draco's point of view it would be better if someone took the time to prevent Harry of what was going to happen. The blond imagined that the black-haired boy wouldn't be amused if suddenly he had a huge dragon in front of him, wanting to make a bonding ritual. He was going to tell everything to the Gryffindor and introduce Sally to him. He'll deal with Snape and Mad Eye later. Draco was going to enjoy the expression on Harry's face when he presented the Gryffindor to Sally. He was smiling to himself thinking of all the questions the Gryffindor would have, when he heard someone entering the library. He automatically lifted his head and saw Harry walking towards him with his notes on dark spells in hand. The blond took a glimpse at the Dragons' book and was disappointed to see that it had reverted to the illustrations. Harry sat heavily beside him and put his notes on the table, noticing the illustrations' book.

"So, still entertaining yourself with that book?"

"Yeah, well, your talk about dragons earlier made me feel nostalgic. I used to hear a lot of stories about them from my mother."

"Sounds like she's a fanatic."

"Yes, she was the one to name me. My father once told me that she was adamant that my first name just had to be Draco."

Harry took the book and opened it by the very first page. He stared for a moment at the translucent creature in the plate. Draco looked at him curiously.

"Harry?"

"Oh, it's nothing. This one looks beautiful. You know, I have been dreaming strange things that I don't remember very well and when I saw you in the garden earlier it was as if my dreams had suddenly merged with reality. This dragon looks a lot like the figure I thought was with you in the garden, and I have been dreaming it also. I wonder what it means."

Draco looked at the picture and happily confirmed that Harry was talking about the Rainbow Dragons. Perfect. Even if the boy couldn't read the books Draco could explain the dreams and continue from there. However, when he opened his mouth he said something completely different from what he had planned.

"The Rainbow Dragons are a myth. They are not real…"

The blond closed his mouth with an audible click and his eyes widened in surprise. That was not what he had wanted to say! He wanted to tell Harry the truth! Harry wasn't looking at him and didn't witness the blonde's anxious face.

"Really? Your mother told you that? Why am I dreaming with them then?"

'_Because you're going to have a bond with one!' _Thought Draco fiercely, concentrating in the words he wanted to say.

"I don't know… My-my mother t-told me t-that… that…" Draco swallowed hard and looked at Harry in panic. The Gryffindor noticed the stuttering and turned to look at the blond with concern.

"Draco?"

"She told me that they are su… supposed t-to be… g-ghosts… of other dr-dragons…"

'_Fucking hell! What the fuck is happening?' _Draco stood and Harry followed him, confused about the blonde's behaviour.

"Ghosts? Draco wait! What does that mean? Why are you so nervous? There's more to it doesn't it?"

Draco wanted to scream. He rubbed his face with his hands trying to collect himself.

'_Sally, what's happening? Why can't I tell him? Is it you?'_

'_**Not me… There's something here. A strange energy. It surges when you talk.'**_

'_Magic? Like a curse? Can you do something?'_

'_**No, it's very strong and deeply rooted. I can't undo **__**it without hurting you.'**_

'_Damn!'_

Fuck Snape! Draco was sure that his ex-professor had something to do with this! He didn't have more time to think of what the man could have done. Harry took him by the arms and turned him around, forcing the blond to face him.

"Draco, answer me. Is there something bad about the dragons?"

The Slytherin sighed and lowered his head. He was going to kill Severus Snape! For the moment he only opened his mouth and let the words flow.

"No, not really. I'm sorry I overreacted. They are said to represent a big or important event. Usually something related to ancient magic."

He was going to kill Snape painfully.

Harry looked intrigued for a moment, but his mind quickly related ancient magic to the Horcruxes.

"Oh. Well, maybe it's a good thing. Maybe we are going to…"

He closed his mouth in time before he revealed something to Draco. The blond lifted his head and looked at him intrigued.

"What? Find some ancient spell to rid ourselves of the Dark Lord?"

Harry smiled at the other boy, happy that the nervousness had disappeared.

"Maybe. Wouldn't we be lucky if that is all that would take to kill the mad man?"

Draco snorted. Harry thought that he saw a spark of amusement in the grey eyes.

"I seriously doubt it'd be so easy. Old magic has a tendency to be complicated and to require a high price to pay."

He looked again into Harry's eyes and started when he noticed they were too close. He hadn't realized that the black-haired boy had not released his arms. He gulped at the intensity with which Harry was looking at him. Those eyes were so passionate that Draco felt mesmerized.

"Po-Potter?"

The Gryffindor boy lifted one of his hands to gently grab the back of the blonde's head and leaned into him, kissing the lips of a very surprised Draco, who gasped and then moaned in pleasure, feeling Harry's tongue tentatively invading his mouth. It didn't last long. Harry soon ended the kiss and looked awkwardly at the other boy. However he didn't take away his hand from the blonde's hair.

"Potter, w-what… ?"

"I… I'm sorry I-I just…"

"Weeell, look at what we have here!"

"Oooooh both of you look so cute!"

Draco and Harry jumped in alarm and were immediately attacked by the twins. The blond boy gasped as George trapped him with one arm and ruffled his hair. Harry was being hugged within an inch of his life and about to die from embarrassment.

"We knew there was something…"

"…happening between you two…"

"…Ginny has been so upset…"

"…it could only mean she finally realized…"

"…that you found your true path mate!"

Draco managed to free himself from the twin that was harassing him and put some distance between himself and the mad Weasleys, which unfortunately got him farther from the door. Meanwhile Harry was looking between them, gaping and slightly horrified.

"Wha… what? What do you mean?"

"Please! Anyone with half a brain could see…"

"…that you two had been so chummy lately…"

"…besides, Harry you did have the tendency…"

"…we noticed way back in school…"

Harry and Draco both were stunned and listening like idiots to the Weasley twins talking about all kind of crazy tales, and insisting in always had known that Harry was fated to end up with some bloke. Harry heard them as if in a dream. He spent a full minute trying to figure out when in the nine hells had he managed to show interest for a guy! Somewhere along the line Harry came back to reality and interrupted the endless stream of the twins' speech.

"Wait! How could you possibly know…? I mean Draco and I never…! Aren't you supposed to be angry in behalf of your sister?" He finished in despair. Both twins grinned exuberantly at him.

"Don't take us wrong, we love Ginny…"

"…she's the most wonderful sister…"

"…at least when she's in her right mind…"

"…and we like you, but frankly Harry…"

"…you're not the best for each other."

The Gryffindor boy gaped again and couldn't help but feel a bit hurt.

"What?"

"Do not be offended Harry, is just…"

"…that she's so infatuated with you, it's not healthy."

"You both would have killed each other sooner or later."

"Yeah, you don't know how dangerous an obsessed woman can be."

The two younger boys just stood there, gaping at the twins' words. The two Weasleys launched into giving Harry numerous reasons why he and their sister would never have lived happily, and that they will support him against the rest of the family. They started to dramatize the terrible breakdown with the rest of the wizarding world when Harry finally had enough and started to manoeuvre to the door, grabbing Draco, and taking them both out of the library.

The boys hurried down the hall until they reached the safety of Draco's bedroom. Once there they indulged in a moment of nervous laughter before Draco leaned heavily on a wall and looked questioningly at Harry.

"So… what was all that about?"

Harry shrugged helplessly.

"I certainly don't know, the twins are crazy…"

"I mean about the kiss." Draco interrupted the Gryffindor before he could go on about his silly friends.

"Oh." Harry looked at the floor in embarrassment, and then sighed slightly.

"I… I don't really know… I suppose I just want to… maybe… give it a chance…?"

Draco narrowed his eyes, not in the least comfortable with what was happening.

"What exactly do you want Harry?"

The boy sighed and put his hands in his pockets looking everywhere but at the blond.

"I'm not sure. Look, each time I'm with you I feel… this need… to just touch you, or hug you… I don't know why, I just feel really… happy… I enjoy being near you. I don't know how to explain it…"

The Slytherin mentally cursed his potions professor once more. He craved to tell Harry the truth and put him at ease. No, he wasn't developing a sudden like for boys, nor he was about to jump Malfoy in the middle of the library. It was just that the bond that their magic had formed was pulling at the Gryffindor, and the boy, having no idea of what was happening, was trying to find an explanation to his feelings. Draco didn't stop to consider his options very much, he said to Harry the first thing that came to his mind.

"I understand. You are curious."

Harry looked at him in surprise and scepticism.

"Look Potter… Harry, not every attraction between two people has to be all about deep feelings for each other. The majority of the boys in a boarding school experiment with each other quite frequently. No feelings attached. No one has to stop being friends or expect a commitment. It just happens."

The Gryffindor boy bit his lip nervously.

"What if I do have feelings about this? About you?"

It was Draco's turn to look sceptically at the other boy.

"Why would you? You hardly know me. We spent six years being nasty to each other, and picking fights. We are just getting to be friends, and I can finally accept that I have a crush on you. But it's only that. I find you attractive and I want you to like me, but I'm not having a sudden revelation of how deep and true my feelings are. And neither do you Harry. Despite the romantic notion of the twins, I'm quite sure that when we were in school you had other more serious things in your mind than appreciating other guys' good qualities."

Harry huffed and smiled despite himself.

"So, you're telling me that this… sudden need to be as close as I can to you is… what? Some repressed teenager lust? It doesn't feel like that."

"What does it feel like then?"

"Well…" The black-haired boy shrugged helplessly. "Fuck. I don't have any idea!"

Draco approached the Gryffindor and tentatively put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's ok Potter. You're confused. It happens."

Harry turned to look at the blond and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"You don't seem at all disturbed by the idea."

Malfoy shrugged and licked his lips.

"Well, I told you. I do find you attractive. And we are both pretty much trapped in this house with nothing better to do but spend time with each other. I… I won't mind to help you sort your confusion a bit."

He smirked at the other boy at the same time that he privately berated himself. What the fuck he was doing? This was going to make things worse! Harry suddenly seemed to make out his mind, and pushed Draco a bit forcefully against the wall, looking at him intently. Draco gulped.

"So, you won't mind to let me experiment, that's what you're saying?"

The blond looked into deep green eyes and nodded, feeling incapable of answering any other way. Harry huffed in annoyance but got closer to Draco's face.

"No feelings attached? No commitment?"

Draco shook his head and suddenly Potter was practically over him, the Gryffindor's body trapping his against the wall and a hand pulling at his hair. Harry's head was alongside his, he could feel the other boy's breath in his ear. A wet tongue caressed his earlobe and Draco couldn't help moaning. Harry whispered then clearly in his ear.

"What if I do want one?"

The blond bit his lip and closed his eyes painfully. There was nothing that he could say that would convince the Gryffindor to leave the feelings at the side.

"When and if it happens we'll talk about it?"

"And you promise that you will consider them seriously?"

Draco sighed in defeat. Harry's hands were slowly finding their way between his robes, and the bond between their magical cores was growing stronger. He put his arms around Harry's waist and leaned his head towards the brunette's.

"Yes Harry. I promise."

Somewhere in the recesses of his mind he knew that he should have pushed Potter away. All this mess was bound to end badly. But as Harry's mouth found the correct angle to better kiss his neck, and the exploring hands managed to reach skin, the blond lost himself in the sensations, oddly augmented by Sally's joy and the constant flow of magic between the two boys. Why the hell couldn't he make the most of his unique situation? Anything that could help him and the baby was to be encouraged, was it not? Besides, despite his recent discovery of a conscience, Draco Malfoy was still a Slytherin at his very core.

&&&&&&&&

* * *

That night, Draco scurried from his room to the kitchen and into the secret passage, followed by the two elves who stayed in the kitchen to wait for him and to make sure that no one wandered near it that night. Draco arrived earlier that normal to the chamber and waited impatiently the few minutes until Snape and Mad Eye arrived. As soon as they did the boy immediately started to rant about the sheer injustice of leaving Potter in the dark to deal alone with dreams about dragons, and to figure out why he was seeing things on his own. The two men were confused for a moment, but once they understood the problem they proceeded to calm down the youngster, and made him explain exactly what he had tried to do. Once he finished, they were all seated in armchairs, and Snape pinched the bridge of his nose as if in pain.

"So, Potter is having the dreams, but he can't see the book yet."

"Yes, and I can't tell anything to him thanks to you! I don't understand why you don't want to tell him. He has to know!"

"Why do you say it's my fault?" Said Snape, looking directly at Draco. The boy huffed in annoyance.

"Please! You are the one that's always insisting that Potter must not know about all this! And Sally told me that there's magic preventing me from telling him the truth! Obviously you thought that it would be better you make sure I'll not open my mouth!"

"I'm admired that you had the talent to reach that conclusion." Said Snape sarcastically. "However, such insight is in fact wrong. No one had done anything to prevent that you in particular give information to Potter. That was done before you were born."

Draco looked confused and waited for them to explain. Moody continued to tell him the history.

"When Bellatrix was discovered, Regulus Black cursed her so that she could never talk about the Rainbow Dragons with anyone who didn't actually have a bond. Unfortunately, his wording was not very precise, and instead to curse her alone he included every bonded one into the spell."

"What? Oh Merlin! That means that even if Potter is looking directly at Sally right in front of him I won't be able to tell him what she is?"

"Precisely. And that's also the reason why no one had been able to guide those who had been having the dreams. Since the gate was closed there had been at least ten people that we had been able to locate that should have a bond, but we can't approach them. Not until they actually consummate it." Said Alastor.

"Which would never happen anyway if our efforts to break the seal are not successful." Said Snape with a meaningful glare.

'_Our? That sounds like a lot of people.'_ Thought Draco sarcastically.

The boy huffed and ranted a bit more about the general injustice of the world, and of stupid cousins that didn't take the time to phrase powerful curses carefully, and about insane aunts that caused all his misfortunes in the first place. The two adults watched him for a while with equal looks of commiseration, but soon Snape interrupted Draco's soliloquy and pointed out that, as there was nothing they could do about the situation, it was pointless to wallow in it, and he redirected the blond to focus his energies on his pregnancy and the training they still had to do. Draco actually crossed his arms and pouted, but had no choice but to obey to Snape's instructions.

* * *

&&&&&&&&

Unknown to everyone, even the house-elves, that same night Ginny scurried from her room into the potions' lab. She was desperate and determined to retain Harry, even if she had to force things a little. No one was going to snatch Harry from her, and most certainly not that pig headed faggot! The rest of the family and Hermione were preoccupied, but none of them was going to do anything to change things. They were going to let Harry sort his feelings himself! Which Harry was clearly not capable to do! She couldn't have it! She was not going to allow the Malfoy prissy git to win the saviour of the wizarding world over! It was her fault that things had gone the wrong way and she was going to fix them. She had to do it for Harry's own good!

The lab was in perfect state; a steaming cauldron encased in a special bubble to protect its contents from disturbance was seated on a working table. There were other two working stations clear. The girl snarled at the still unfinished potion, and then went to find the ingredients she needed. She hoped to find all of them in the cabinets or she would have some problems to acquire them. Finally, after half an hour of search she had a table ready for work and everything at hands reach. She took out a couple of crumpled sheets that she had tore from a magazine and scowled at them.

It wasn't so hard, the potion was a bit unclear and she had never brewed something like that before, but she could manage. The incense was easy enough. She decided to get started with the potion, and while she waited for it to simmer she could prepare the incense. Once decided, she put the cauldron on the fire and started to work.

A couple of hours later she checked the potion to see if it was pink like the recipe said it should, and then put it on a vial. She cleaned everything consciously to make sure that no one knew that someone other than Malfoy had brewed anything, and then returned to her room as quietly as she had come.

* * *

&&&&&&&&

Ginny waited impatiently for the day to finish. She hadn't talked with anyone the entire day, and had only wandered out of her room for meals. She noticed that Harry didn't seem troubled by her unusual behaviour, and that made her seethe with fury. If it had been Malfoy hiding in his room all day, Harry would have come for him!

She couldn't believe that her family was letting Harry slip away. They were even starting to be solicitous towards Malfoy! Specially the twins! Ginny bristled in annoyance at her brothers every time they flanked the blond boy as some sort of bodyguards. She hated the consideration everyone was giving to the death eater's spawn. Well, Harry was not going to be a part of it anymore! She was going to make things between the Gryffindor boy and her to fit again into her expectations. Harry was going to be grateful eventually.

She entered the black-haired boy's room when everyone was having dinner, and put the incense to burn, making sure that the windows were closed before she quietly got out. Soon the entire room was filled with delicate fumes.

* * *

&&&&&&&&

Harry went to his bedroom after midnight. He and Hermione had finally set a plan of action for going searching for the last horcrux. They had agreed that they needed an adult as an ally and had decided that if Remus didn't came back the next week they would confide in Mad Eye Moody. That would make things a bit easier for them, since Harry was unwilling to tell the truth to the entire Order. There were just many things that could go wrong, and there were some people in the Order that were not entirely trustworthy as far as Harry was concerned.

The boy sighed in tiredness and walked straight to his bed, starting to get rid of his shirt before he noticed the peculiar smell that suffused his room. He stopped his movements immediately and sniffed, trying to identify the odour and its source. He finally noticed the incensory at his bedside table and scowled to it, analysing the ashes that were at the bottom of the small receptacle. He took a step towards the door and felt instantly dizzy. He shook his head in confusion, looking around him bewildered, and asking himself what exactly he was doing. There was the feeling of something being really wrong in the back of his head, but he couldn't focus on what it was. His vision was starting to get unfocused, and he sat heavily on the bed.

A noise from the door got his attention, and he lifted his head with some effort. The slightly blurry image of Ginny entered his room, and closed the door behind her. Harry looked at her and blinked in confusion as she calmly approached him. The girl stood in front of him confidently, and cupped his face in her hands. Harry blinked at her owlishly, trying to comprehend what she was doing or how she had managed to get so close to him. The girl smiled seductively to him and leaned slightly, kissing his lips tenderly.

A sense of wrongness grew inside of Harry's head, but he could not for the life of him pin point exactly what was wrong. He sat heavily on the bed with Ginny making herself comfortable on his lap. She kissed him again and started to undo the buttons of his shirt.

"Gi… Ginny?"

"Sht, Harry. You don't have to do anything, only relax. I'll do all the work."

The Gryffindor boy blinked again, not understanding in the least what the girl was saying. He felt like floating in a dense fog, and his arms started to go numb. He tried to turn around, and discovered with some surprise that he was laying across his bed, a weird weight over him. He felt absently a pair of hands touching him, and Ginny's voice washed over him incomprehensively one last time before he fell into a deep slumber.


	16. Deal with it

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Author's note:** Sorry, I got sidetracked by a farm. I know how it sounds but it really happened.

**Chapter 15****. Deal with it.**

Harry woke to an annoying headache. He groaned, still half asleep, and tried to pull the covers over his head. Something was preventing him to move like he wanted, and he frowned, not bothering yet to open his eyes. He slowly became aware of his right arm being trapped under a soft weight. He tried to pull his arm free, and the thing over it moved closer to him, cuddling into his side. He felt an alien hand caressing his torso, and he half opened his eyes to peek around him.

The first thing he noticed was a mop of red hair over his chest. He blinked incomprehensibly at the sight, and his wakening brain made an effort to remember the previous night.

Very slowly the memories started to pop in his head, and at the same time panic began to rise. He suddenly was wide-awake, and pushing Ginny off him, scrambling desperately to get away.

The girl was about to fall over the edge of the bed, but waked up on time, and lifted her head to drowsily look in Harry's direction. The boy meanwhile had managed to get out of the bed, and was busy pulling his pants on. Ginny stretched out on the bed, and threw the covers aside, making an inviting gesture to the flustered boy.

"Harry love, come over here. We can skip breakfast."

The Gryffindor boy rounded on her, a look of pure fury in his eyes. Ginny hesitated for a moment, but then smiled bravely at him, and attempted a seductive posture.

"Harry? Love, I know this was a bit hurried, but it was so great…"

"Get out."

She blinked at him in confusion, surprised at the angry voice.

"Harry?"

"Get out!"

"Wha… No, no Harry, you can't just expect me to go away after what happ… ow!"

Harry found Ginny's clothes, and threw them at her face. The girl had just managed to sit up, and grab her garments, when a firm grip pulled her by the arm and got her out of the bed and towards the door.

"I said get OUT! OUT!"

"Harry wait! Please Harry! You're hurting me!"

The boy opened his bedroom door, and literally threw the naked girl to the hallway, slamming the door after her. Ginny landed unceremoniously on her ass.

"OW! Harry! HARRY!"

She sat there for a whole five minutes, staring open mouthed at Harry's closed door, refusing to believe that he had ejected her forcefully from his bed. Finally she put on her blouse and skirt hurriedly, and escaped to her own bedroom before someone saw her.

Inside the room, Harry was furiously stripping the bed from its linen. He got it all on a pile and promptly set it on fire. He was tempted to burn the bed as well, anything to rid the room of the stench of sex that permeated it, but he had enough presence of mind to doubt he could prevent a larger fire from getting out of control. He opted for strip again, and take a long scalding shower.

For the first time he was grateful that Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley had convinced him to take the master bedroom, as it had its own bathroom, and he didn't have to risk seeing Ginny in the hallway. He turned on the water as hot as it could get, and revelled in the dull pain that the scalding water provoked. Half way down the shower he started to cry hysterically, and to viciously punch the tiled wall. He didn't realize when his knuckles started to bleed.

After a while he rested his forehead on the bloodied tiles, and his cries receded to sobbing. He didn't remember much of the previous night save the vague sensation of dizziness. The memory of Ginny's kisses was so surreal, almost like something he had witnessed happening to someone else. He felt so betrayed, so used. How dare she said that she loved him! He had never been more disgusted in his life!

He wondered vaguely if this was how Malfoy had felt in the morning after Harry had assaulted him. Then shoved the sentiment away. After many talks with the blond and getting closer to him Harry had finally gotten through his head that Malfoy had not been traumatized by the event, and in fact had wished for it to happen. Which was not the case in his situation! Ginny had no right to do this to him! She was supposed to be part of Harry's family! …

The Weasleys… Oh God, what they would think? He couldn't face them. What was he going to say? What if they took Ginny's side? After all she was a real Weasley, an actual member of the family, he was just someone they took pity on. What if they believe he was the one at fault? That he had mislead her by hinting that they would have a relationship someday, after the war?

Harry gulped. He couldn't face the Weasleys, and he didn't want them to know what had happened. The thought of facing Ginny anytime soon made his stomach lurch uncomfortably. Suddenly taking a decision he got out of the shower, and quickly dried himself. Then he hurried into the bedroom and dressed as fast as he could, wincing slightly every now and again when the clothes rubbed too much on his tender burnt skin. After that he got out of the room, peeking cautiously to both sides of the hallway before venturing in the way to the library, praying to the gods that Hermione would be there alone.

For once he was lucky and didn't encounter anyone on his way. Hermione was pulling an ancient looking book from one of the shelves when Harry spotted her. He surveyed the rest of the big library, and thanking the fates that they were the only ones there he walked silently behind his friend, and grabbed her arm. The girl jumped startled, and with a yelp turned around, ready to smack Harry's head with the heavy book. The boy ducked the blow just in time

"Gezz, calm down Hermione it's me."

"Harry! Don't do that! I didn't even hear you! What's the matter? You weren't there for breakfast."

Harry looked apologetically at his friend, but then continued to pull her insistently to the exit.

"Come on Hermione. I've been thinking and we can't wait a week, we must go now."

"What? But… but Harry we are not ready…"

"You have the maps and all our notes in your backpack don't you?"

"Well, yes but…"

"Accio Hermione's backpack!"

The big bundle sailed trough the door a moment latter, and nearly threw Harry to the floor when it impacted on him. The Gryffindor boy huffed in an effort to regain his breath and then put the bag on the floor.

"Jesus Herm, what else do you have in here?"

"Important accessories and books that could be helpful. Now Harry what is happening? Why the sudden hurry? Has this something to do with Ginny looking smug at breakfast?"

Harry froze, and his eyes glassed over when he heard Ginny's name. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him and promptly hissed.

"What happened Harry Potter?"

The boy shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, and turned his eyes away from the girl.

"Did she say anything?"

"Not really. She only commented on what a good day it was and how happy she felt. Why Harry?"

The Gryffindor boy clenched his fists, and growled under his breath. He grabbed Hermione's backpack, and walked decidedly out of the library and down the stairs.

"Harry? Harry wait!"

Hermione ran behind her friend, trying to get him to stop. Harry however shook her off every time she reached for his arm and continued walking.

"You can stay if you want Hermione. I'm going to look for the last horcrux. I can't wait anymore!"

"Harry, please! We don't have clothes or provisions, we are not ready to go!"

"We can call Dobby latter and ask him to bring us what we need. I'm not staying here any longer!"

The pained voice with which Harry said the last words made Hermione falter in shock for a second. She looked helplessly as her friend took the last steps to the house's front door, and opened it with fierce determination on his face.

"You're coming or not?"

Hermione bit her lip nervously for a second. She couldn't let Harry leave alone. With a deep sigh she joined her friend, and together they left the safety of Grimmauld Place.

* * *

&&&&&&&&

Draco stood in the entrance parlour of the Black's house, leaning heavily on the wall that used to support Walburga Black's portrait. A small backpack was at his feet, containing the clothes that Tonks had gotten for him before her death. He was waiting for Moody to come down from the upper floors so they could go on their merry way to Snape's hiding place.

Of course, that was to be only if Mad Eye was successful in leaving Molly Weasley behind.

The boy sighed morosely. He felt dreadfully tired, and Sally had gone dormant again. He could faintly hear the noise of the argument that was taking place in the upper floors, and scowled in annoyance.

Everyone had been astonished when they had discovered that the two remaining thirds of the Golden trio had disappeared. That had been three weeks ago. Mrs. Weasley had been nearly thrown into shock, and a searching party had been sent to find the stray teenagers without any luck. Every trustworthy person in the Order had been notified of the incident and put on alert. It had been very difficult to remain calm, and keep watching the Death Eaters' activities.

Mrs. Weasley had been endlessly worrying about the two missing Gryffindors the entire three weeks, but she hadn't allowed herself to be distracted from the rest of her family. She had insisted that everyone practiced self-defence everyday, and that Ginny started to review the Hogwarts texts to continue with her education. Draco had focussed on his potion-making, hardly getting out of the potions lab. He had been deeply saddened by the fact that Harry had left without a word, and he had wondered if the boy intended to ever come back.

Two days after the Gryffindors' disappearance Draco had started to feel the effects of his absence. He had felt how much his own magic was drained with the smallest effort, and Sally had retreated from his consciousness to save energy. Every bit of his magic was being consumed away to maintain his pregnancy. Draco had feared for his child, but Salamanca had assured him that the father's absence would not be fatal as he alone should be capable to provide enough magic for his baby to be fine. However he was left pretty vulnerable, as he now wouldn't be able to do even the most simple of spells.

About a week later, the werewolf had returned. Only to disappear again, claiming that the whole Order was made of a bunch of incompetent wizards who would never find his godson, so he would have to do it himself. Draco had been thankful that Lupin had gone in search of Potter. Especially after the man had looked at him with something akin to horror, sniffed a few times, and then had shook his head as if trying to rid his mind of an incredulous idea, turning away from the blond and muttering under his breath.

Another thing that had been blowing his mind was the Weasleys' attitude towards him. Not Ginny's, the little tart had been even nastier than usual, but the twins had turned out to be a surprise for the blond. The pranksters had been constantly at his side, trying to cheer him up, and making sure that he didn't miss any meals. Mrs. Weasley had also been pretty kind to him and had checked on his well being constantly. The Weasley matron had a way of looking at him, as if she KNEW just what it was Draco was hiding! That was unnerving. The boy had read the book and so understood that, usually, the family of a bonded tend to gravitate towards him or her, but the Weasleys were not his family. Well, they were some sort of cousins, he supposed, but it was not the same. Even so, Salamanca had told him that they were going to feel compelled to help him. After all, they also had some sensibility to the Rainbow dragons' magic.

As helpful as the Weasleys were, it was distressing to Draco. They were being so… nice. If it wasn't for Ginevra, Draco would have been sure that the Weasley clan knew something about the Dragons.

The Weasley girl had been the most shocked by Harry's disappearance, and she had stubbornly fixated on the idea that Draco somehow had to have something to do with the boy's absence, since he'll never leave the house without even a word to them. She didn't seem to care too much about Hermione; she was completely focused on her "poor" Harry's fate. She constantly insisted that they should make Draco confess what he had done to drive Harry away form the house, and that probably he had set up a trap for him. Thankfully no one had seemed to pay her any heed. So she had settled for glaring at the boy, and insisted that he shouldn't be at Order's Headquarters anymore.

Finally McGonagall decided to agree with the girl. She had never wanted the blond Slytherin in headquarters anyway, and now that Harry was nowhere to be found no one was going to speak for him. Or so she had thought.

Draco had definitely not been prepared for Mrs. Weasley to go ballistic on his behalf. Neither anyone else it had seemed. The twins had recovered quite quickly, and had readily supported their mother, pointing out that Harry would be quite upset if he returned and found Malfoy gone. Professor McGonagall had been quite crossed, but had not relented. She had told the lot of them with finality that there was no reason why Malfoy should stay at Grimmauld place, and so Moody had offered to find him a suitable refuge. Molly Weasley had gritted her teeth, and had said nothing else.

The day that Draco had finally been ready to go, she had appeared with her families' trunks packed, two very eager twins, and an upset Ginny; and had announced in no uncertain terms that they were accompanying Draco.

It had been a mess.

McGonagall had been enraged, and had attempted to make the other woman see reason. Ginny had supported the professor, and had hotly declared her intentions of staying behind, and wait for Harry. Moody was forced to support McGonagall. If they were going to move Malfoy he was going to make sure that it was to a place where only Dragon-bonded wizards had access to him. Soon the discussion had transformed into a shouting match between the two elder witches, and Draco had grabbed his bag and escaped to the parlour.

And there he was, waiting patiently for Mrs. Weasley and McGonagall to kill each other, so that he could leave. He was so distracted with his own musings that he didn't notice the front door being inconspicuously opened. He jumped up in surprise when he heard the distinct sound of said door being closed, and turned around fearfully, ready to bolt upstairs at the sight of their unannounced visitor. He nearly dropped down dead when he saw Harry and Granger standing a few steps from him, looking worst for wear but definitely alive. Draco glared at them with some rancour.

"Don't do that you two! You nearly gave me heart failure!"

"Nice to see you too Malfoy." Said Hermione cheekily. She looked at him with a tired expression.

Draco wanted to say something nasty to her, but was too busy feeling his magic reach out towards Harry. The dark-haired boy stepped in front of him.

"What are you doing here? It's usually time for lunch now."

"So you figured that you could drop in and choke us all to death?"

"Malfoy, we are in no mood to have this discussion!"

"Of course you aren't."

The blond crossed his arms and looked to the far wall, feeling sulky. Harry sighed and relented. He felt too disappointed to be fighting with Draco. He looked at the floor, ready to go upstairs to his room, when he spotted the backpack at the blonde's feet. He narrowed his eyes at it, and thought seriously over the fact of Malfoy been in the entrance parlour. He lifted his eyes to look at the Slytherin severely.

"Malfoy, what exactly are you doing here with that backpack?"

The blond tried to sound petulant to hide his nervousness. Too bad that his trick no longer had an effect on either of the Gryffindors in the house.

"Well, you see, since the owner of the house disappeared three weeks ago, with no indication as to when or if he was returning, it was decided that I will be vacating the premises."

Harry gaped at him, and after some seconds shook his head and advanced worriedly to the blond.

"What? But you can't be serious! You can't leave!"

"Why not Potter? There's not much difference between one hidden place to another, anyway… Hey!"

Harry grabbed the blond by the arms, and gritted his teeth.

"You are safe here! There's no need for you to move to any other place!"

Draco blinked in surprise at the dark-haired boy. He wondered why Harry looked so… anxious. He was also worried by the sudden flow of his magic. Now that Harry was physically touching him, he could feel how the magic of both of them was intertwining. Reasserting the bond between them. Inside of him he could feel Sally beginning to stir. He wondered if Potter was feeling anything. He was still trying to figure out what to do when Hermione put a hand on Harry's shoulder to calm him.

"Easy Harry. First we have to know what has happened. Maybe there's a good reason for Malfoy to go."

Draco looked transfixed as Potter pressed his lips, and released him reluctantly.

"It's just that… I don't know, I kind of feel like you are my responsibility… and I want to have you around."

"Well, not as if you have been around lately, you know. Everyone has been worrying. McGonagall almost went catatonic."

Harry ran his hands through his hair, clearly upset.

"Yeah, well it's a bit complicated. You see…"

"Harry!"

Draco groaned, and lifted his head to tragically watch the ceiling. Harry and Hermione turned towards the stairs where Ginny was climbing down as fast as she could, waving her hands excitedly.

"I knew you'd return soon! Now mom can stop her nonsense about going away!"

To Draco's surprise Harry hissed angrily at the Weasley girl, and took out his wand to prevent her from getting closer. Ginny stopped a few meters from them, totally in shock.

"Harry? Harry what's wrong?"

Hermione put herself between her friend and the flustered girl, just when Moody, Mrs. Weasley, McGonagall and the twins arrived. Molly immediately charged towards the two wayward youngsters and hugged them tightly.

"Harry! Hermione! I've been so worried! What in Merlin's name you both were thinking to leave the house like that? You could have been seriously injured!"

"We're sorry Mrs. Weasley." Said Hermione meekly after Molly finally released both of them.

Harry was quietly looking to the floor as the Weasley matron flustered over them, making sure that they were indeed in one piece. McGonagall meanwhile started her own rant.

"I think you both owe all of us an explanation! Have you not sense of responsibility at all? Perhaps you still don't get into your heads how dangerous it is to go on your merry way to parts unknown, without the consideration to tell anyone where you're heading! This is not Hogwarts! We're at war here! We can not be so bold anymore!"

Alastor was looking severely at the teenagers too. He continued as soon as McGonagall stopped to get some air.

"I'm surprised Potter. One would think that with a madman's obsession with you, you would have developed some common sense by now!"

Draco suppressed the need to snort at Mad eye's comment. Really! The gal of the man! He had always known where Potter and Granger had gone! Draco had spied Dobby reporting to him! He was just making a show to cover his knowledge!

A thought suddenly occurred to the Slytherin, and he narrowed his eyes at the ex-auror. Mad eye had known Potter's whereabouts! Which meant that not only the pair of Gryffindors had never been in danger, and the old man had let them all worry needlessly, but also that he had probably known when they were going to return! The git!

The two friends looked at each other in a purposeful manner, and then Hermione apologized for the both of them; explaining a bit about some artefacts that Albus had wanted them to retrieve, without actually telling what they had tried to accomplish. Draco was barely hearing her. He was busy examining the Gryffindor boy. The flow of magic had settled into a soft interchange, and Sally was waking up, and starting to acknowledge the situation. Harry didn't seem to notice his magic doing weird things. He was stubbornly looking at his feet, clenching and unclenching his fists, clearly upset.

Draco sighed, wondering what had prompted the two friends to disappear like that. He knew that Harry was impulsive, but usually Granger managed to cool down both him and the weasel. Perhaps without the ginger boy present she was loosing her touch.

He came back to reality when he noticed the ominous silence in the room. McGonagall was looking at the two Gryffindors with her lips tightly pressed, and her hands on her hips. She must have asked something, but apparently none of the two culprits were willing to give an answer.

"Well, I'm waiting!"

Harry lifted his head and shrugged noncommittally. McGonagall looked about to explode.

"Mr. Potter, that is non-acceptable behaviour for someone like you!"

"Please professor, we are sorry!" Said Hermione, noticing that her friend was about to strangle someone. "Dumbledore insisted that we were to be very careful and not tell others. It's just that there's only one artefact left and we really need help to find it! It's very important! Without it You-know-who would never be defeated!"

"Still, it is not reason to just leave without even a word! I know you trust in your friends Mr. Potter, you could at least say something to them!"

"Yes Harry, you know we could have helped you!" Said an indignant Ginny.

Harry glared at the girl with such venom that McGonagall forgot for a moment her anger, and looked between the two with surprise. Ginny gaped at Harry, and ignoring the silent warning took a step towards him.

"Harry? What's the matter?"

The girl tried to reach over to him, but Harry immediately lifted his wand again. Everyone present gasped.

"Don't you dare come near me Ginny! I don't want you to touch me ever again!"

The girl blinked in surprise and looked alternatively at Harry, and the wand aimed at her. She couldn't believe what was happening. Hermione touched Harry's arm again, trying to calm him a bit.

The bushy haired girl had managed to extract from Harry the tale of what had made him want to leave Grimmauld place in such a hurry. She hadn't been pleased at all. In fact, she was extremely furious at Ginny. How dare the girl approach Harry as if nothing was wrong? She wanted to punch her, but if she did it in front of everyone she would have to explain, and Harry had made her promise that she was going to wait. The Gryffindor boy would prefer to just forget what had happened and get away from Ginny, but Hermione knew that sooner or later he was going to have to confront the bint.

It turned out that she didn't have to wait much. Apparently, Ginny didn't like her touching Harry. The Weasley girl glared at Hermione, and hissed at her.

"Oh, I see. Someone has been trying to get you away from me. Surely filling your head of stupid lies! Don't listen to her Harry! She's not trustworthy!"

"Shut up Ginny!" Said Harry, now barely containing his anger. "What would you know about trust?"

The girl's eyes widened at Harry's anger, and she stuttered clenching her hands nervously.

"Ha-Harry… I… Y-you can't be mad at me… I mean… what I did was out of love Harry! I thought you'd understand! I-I was trying to fix things!"

"Fix things? FIX THEM? Are you fucking mad?"

Draco paled, and with his left hand looked support from the wall. Holly shit! Harry's magic was attempting to explode! The adults were all but gaping at him in utter shock. Ginny took a step away from him, but then seemed to recover and managed to look hurt.

"I love you Harry! And I know you love me! How can you deny that? I was just trying to make you see reason…!"

"Stupefy!"

"Protego!"

No one had expected Harry to actually hex Ginny. No one except Moody, that's it. The Stupefying hex never touched Ginny thanks to quick ex-auror's reflexes. The girl looked fearful now, and started to sob.

"I suggest you control yourself Mr. Potter. There's no need to waste perfectly useful magic over a teenager stunt, I'm sure." Said Mad eye, in the best personification of Snape that he could manage.

Harry tried to calm down, aware now of the people that was around him, and especially aware of Draco's presence at his back. He didn't want the boy to find out what had happened, at least not like this. But Ginny seemed to have other ideas.

"Please Harry. We need to fix this. You love me and you know it! We only need to settle our differences and…"

"Settle our differences?" Harry hissed at her, barely managing to put his magic under control. "Get this through your head Ginevra Weasley. I don't want to ever talk with you again. I want nothing to do with you, you understand? Nothing!"

"You can't Harry! You can't leave me like this! I'm pregnant!"

Silence filled the Black's parlour as everyone digested what Ginny had said. Molly Weasley whispered, looking at her daughter with incredulity.

"W-What?"

Harry got out of his shock, and advanced over to Ginny. His eyes were wide and fearful.

"You are lying."

"I'm not! We are having a baby Harry!"

"That's not possible!"

Harry took the girl by her arms, and almost lifted her from her feet, trying to see directly into her eyes. This time no one moved a finger to stop him. His magic was getting out of control again.

"Harry, stop, you're hurting me!"

"You can not be pregnant that's a lie!"

"It's not! I wanted to be sure and prepared a pregnancy potion! We are going to be a family Harry…"

"No! How dare you Ginny! That was not your decision to make!"

Harry shook the girl and Ginny squealed, now truly afraid. Harry's magic made the furniture tremble, and the other people in the parlour braced themselves.

"Ow! Harry! Harry stop please! It's what you wanted! You always wanted a family! I'm giving you one!"

"Not like this! Damn you Ginny! I hate you!"

A wave of magic threw people of their feet, and Hermione fearfully reached towards her friend.

"Harry! Please stop! You're going to hurt someone, please!"

The Gryffindor pushed Ginny away, and ran upstairs, leaving everyone to recover as best as they could.

Draco looked at Harry's back for a moment, and then concentrated in getting himself up the floor. He had unconsciously put his right hand over his stomach, trying to protect his baby from the onslaught of magic. He could feel Sally around him, her aura making a strong and much better shield than any protego. He breathed in relief, and looked as everyone else collected themselves. The shouting started almost immediately.

* * *

&&&&&&&&

The blond Slytherin walked towards his room in abject silence. He had only stayed to hear the discussion between Mrs. Weasley, and her daughter out of morbid curiosity. It went on for sometime before the grownups remembered his and Granger's presence, and sent both of them to their rooms. Not that it really mattered, by then all that had to be said had been in fact said, and there was nothing left but to pick up the pieces.

Draco wondered if McGonagall was going to press the matter of him leaving Headquarters, but he supposed not.

He sighed and leaned heavily on his door. He was terribly shaken by what had happened. He could not believe that the Weasley girl was pregnant. What she had done to Harry had been… horrible… And he could not get out of his head the thought that he had done something similar.

For very different reasons, they both had taken advantage of Harry. They both had forced him to sire a child that he didn't want. Draco felt terrible. He had never wanted to hurt Harry like that. Now that he had seen first hand how the Gryffindor boy would react to the news of an unwanted child, he decided that he was never going to mention his own baby to him. He was not going to impose that responsibility on Harry. It would only make him despise Draco again, and it would cause him pain.

No, he was not going to do it. It was better that the boy never knew.

He felt Sally's nose on his cheek, trying to comfort him, and smiled. Despite the events of the day he felt infinitely better with Sally active again. She made him remember that he wasn't alone anymore.

Draco entered his bedroom, and let his backpack fall to the floor. He closed the door, and stared in surprise at the figure sitting in the windowsill. Harry was there. Looking morosely towards the garden. Draco blinked a few times, and tentatively took a few steps towards the other boy.

"Potter?"

The Gryffindor smiled ruefully, but didn't take his eyes of the garden.

"No more first names?"

"Sorry. Harry. It requires practice, you know?"

"I suppose. I hope you don't mind me here. I really don't want to enter my room ever again."

"Whether I mind or not, it's your home. I don't really have any say in where you decide to stay."

He walked towards the bed and sat down, facing Harry's direction. The Gryffindor boy suddenly frowned, and turned sharply to look at him.

"And you are going to stay right here! I'll make sure they don't move you out of the house!"

Draco shrugged and lowered his eyes.

"I think they have forgotten about me. They're… busy with other… more pressing matters."

"Oh."

Harry pressed his lips together and looked at the floor in embarrassment.

"Draco, I-I didn't want…"

"I know. Mrs. Weasley was pretty upset, but she doesn't blame you. They made Ginevra tell them exactly what she had done. And… she told them everything… including the spiked firewhiskey."

Harry's face went ashen, and leaned in the window; feeling like his entire world was spinning.

"Oh my good! They all are going to hate me now." He said quietly. Draco looked at him worriedly.

"Whatever for? They know it was Ginny's doing."

"Yes, but… I didn't want anyone to know… I mean… Maybe they'll think that I provoked her. That somehow she was led to believe that I still want her."

"Harry, no one thinks that. Everyone knows that she tricked you. It's not your fault."

Draco stood up, and walked towards the other boy. He put a hand on his shoulder, trying to be supportive.

"Are you gonna be alright?"

Harry huffed and lifted his head, looking straight in front of him without really seeing anything.

"I suppose."

He stood too and looked at the blond sadly.

"So, you're not too disgusted with me?"

Draco's eyes widened in surprise at the question. He punched Harry's shoulder lightly.

"Of course not you twit. Why should I?"

Harry shrugged, and bit his lip. Draco rolled his eyes at him.

"Are you always so prone to guilt? You are not responsible for other people's madness, you know? There is no way that you can somehow control Weasley's crazy ideas!" He took the other boy by the arm, and made him look up to his face. "Don't let this win Harry. Don't let other people's actions damage what you are."

Harry looked at Draco, and smiled despite himself.

"You sound like Hermione, you know?"

Draco made a disgusted face.

"How dare you compare me? I'm much more sensible than Granger!"

Harry grinned and then took the blonde's hands.

"Thanks Draco."

"You're welcome."

* * *

&&&&&&&&

"That girl is a danger! We should have banished her from the house at once!"

The man looked to be in his early sixties, was tall, wore glasses and had an impeccable beard. He was also greatly distressed, and he wasn't the only one. Snape looked around the chamber where an assortment of ten people had reunited to discuss the recent events.

None of them had been happy when the Potter brat had suddenly decided to leave. Draco had been left practically defenceless. They all had been wondering the reason for the Gryffindor boy to simply disappear without explanation. Now that they knew, everyone wondered why the Weasley girl was allowed in the same house as the Malfoy heir. She was clearly unstable, and no one could begin to guess what she'll do next.

Snape sighed and inwardly cursed once more.

"It would be very difficult. Unless we find an adequate excuse to send her to Romania with her brother, I really doubt that her mother would let her out of her sight. Especially now."

"Why not move the entire family then?"

Asked a middle-aged witch, tall and robust. Her robes and the hood of her cape obscured her facial features.

"The Weasleys are the only family that can be close to the Malfoy boy right now." Said Salamanca. "Both them and the Prewetts are families highly sensitive to the call of the dragons. Many of their members can be influenced by the Dragons' magic, even when they're not bonded. Molly Weasley, and her twin children had been very useful. They had taken care of Malfoy quite well. If we remove them, the boy would be left to his own devices."

The entire assembly shifted uncomfortably. They all knew that the sudden interest of the Weasleys for Malfoy's well being was a result of the Dragon's presence. Instinctively and without conscious knowledge, they were also trying to protect the last of the Rainbow Dragons. It was a pain to not be able to give them proper instruction. Moody huffed and grumped from his place next to a column.

"Anyway, now that the little chit has what she wanted, she'll probably quiet down."

"Are you sure about that Alastor?" Asked another wizard.

"She thinks she has secured Potter. She counts on his sense of responsibility to take care of her and her child. She expects to have no more problems to marry him. Malfoy is no longer a menace."

"Nonetheless we better be on guard. Potter still has to spend an adequate amount of time with Draco." Pointed out Snape. "We can not allow anyone to interfere with this. It's our only chance for survival."

Again the discomfort was palpable. No one liked the situation, but they really had no other choice. Finally Alastor grumped one more time.

"I'll have the elves to keep closer tabs on all three of them. At the time, Potter is mad at the girl, and it will last a while for him to decide to speak to her again. It was decided that no one was going to pressure him to do anything. Malfoy still has plenty of opportunity to be close to him."

"And what about the horcruxes?" Said a middle-aged man. "Are we going to let them continue their fruitless search? We know where the last one is."

"Yes." Said Salamanca. "And while Hogwarts remains closed to everyone, there's no use trying to get it. What do you both think, Severus, Alastor? It may be beneficial that the Potter boy has no reason to leave the house."

"Yes, but it could be counterproductive." Said Snape. "That boy can not remain quiet for long. Even attending his training, his mind would stay preoccupied on what he could possibly do to get the Horcrux. He may fall into more trouble."

"The small quests he had been doing had served as practice for him and the Granger girl. If he stays detained in the house he would be restless, and driving everyone else insane soon." Added Alastor.

There was a resigned silence until Nott spoke of. He and Snape were the only Death Eaters that had survived Bella's treachery.

"Nevertheless, it would be wise to have him watched more strictly on those excursions. The Dark Lord is recovering from Nagini's lost, and is furious that someone had accidentally managed to destroy one of his 'artefacts'. He's going to renew the attacks, and now that Malfoy senior is back and willing to prove himself, his forces are bound to be more efficient. He may want to recover his property, or at least check on it to see if it's still safe."

"I don't know where the youngsters had hidden the two that they had found. But I'll encourage them to destroy the things at once."

"See that you do that Alastor." Finished Salamanca. "And procure to have a close watch on the Weasley girl. It won't hurt if Potter could be convinced that she, and her child are the less important thing at the moment."


	17. A complex situation

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Author's note: **Sadly this is a short chapter. I actually have more chapters written, but I don't have time to capture them. I need a secretary

**Chapter 1****6. A complex situation.**

The next day Draco and Harry sat silently at the kitchen table. Neither of them had wanted to go down, but Mrs. Weasley had gone personally to their room to fetch them. She had assured Harry that she didn't blame him for anything and that she wasn't going to force him into any arrangement. Whatever Harry wanted to do about "the situation" she was going to respect and support his decision. Harry was very grateful to her. For the moment he really didn't want to even think about what had happened. He needed more time to come to terms with it. Molly had said it was all right, but all the same she had insisted on Harry getting down for breakfast, and the boy consequently had dragged Draco with him.

The blond was eating his fruit in silence. He had been a bit nauseous when he had woken up, but fortunately it had receded. The fact that Harry was back in the house and had actually slept in the same room had done wonders for him. He no longer felt tired or cranky and Sally had cushioned him all night, which meant that his magic was not in danger of depletion anymore.

He and Granger were sitting at both sides of Harry. The bushy-haired girl had glared daggers at Ginny when the girl had attempted to sit in front of the boy. Ginny had glared in return and had looked sadly at Harry, who had pointedly ignored her. The twins had moved her to another seat and then had sat themselves in front of Harry and Hermione. Since then, everyone had focused in the food with the occasional odd inconsequential comment.

It went fairly well, until Molly put a plate of scrambled eggs in front of her daughter. The girl turned green, and hurriedly got out of the kitchen. She returned a while later, and asked only for toast and tea. She looked at everyone's breakfast with a disgusted face.

"You could at least be considerate and eat something else. Or let me eat in my room."

"Ginny, there's no reason for you to not share the meals with us." Said Molly. The rest of the youngsters stayed silent, not wanting to contradict her. They knew that the troubled mother was stubbornly ignoring the fact that it would be quite hard for the household to coexist with Ginny from there on.

Fred shrugged and commented:

"Anyway, you always liked scrambled eggs. There's no reason for us to stop eating them just because you have an upset stomach today."

Ginny glared murderously at her brother and snapped at him.

"You are a moron Fred. I don't have an upset stomach! I have morning sickness! I've been having it for a while now, but of course none of you have noticed it!"

Draco looked at the girl with mild curiosity. Morning sickness? What the hell was that? He remembered that the girl had been arriving late for breakfast lately, and barely touching it. And she had been mixing her food with chocolate, which he had thought odd, but he had not given it much attention. George took the place of his twin and answered his sister.

"Ah, yes. That's why you have been throwing up for a week now in the mornings. I remember I asked you if something was wrong and you told me to mind my own business. So I don't see why I should be mindful of what you can't eat now."

"Why you…!"

Ginny was about to throw her toast to her brother's head, but her mother stopped her just in time.

"Please! George, Fred, be nice to your sister. She's going to have a rough time for breakfast as it is. Morning sickness is something every pregnant woman has to tolerate."

Draco was in awe. Was he supposed to experiment that too? He had been feeling queasy and a bit nauseated in the mornings, but hadn't actually thrown up. It usually disappeared with breakfast.

"Everyone?" Asked Hermione, automatically putting herself into lecture mode. "I had read that it's not a requirement. There are many symptoms and not every woman presents them all."

"Yeah, well. There are some lucky women that don't experiment morning sickness, even a few very, very lucky ones that never feel any discomfort at all. Not the back aches or dizziness or headaches. But it's quite rare."

Gods. Malfoy hoped that he was a rare case. Duh… Ok, he was already a rare case. Maybe because of that he would be spared any more pains?

Kreacher approached him at that moment to give him his tea. The boy took it and then looked at the cup's contents for a second. The elves always left a glass of water beside his bed, saying that it will help him for the mornings. Actually, the elves were taking great care in being them the ones that served Malfoy his meals.

Mmmm…

Well, whatever the little creatures were doing, he wasn't about to complain.

Ginny continued to protest that they should be more considerate to her. And if they weren't going to make an effort and help her, she'd better stay in her room. Mrs. Weasley was already pretty distressed because she had in fact forgotten how bad morning sickness could be. Just when she was about to start sobbing in frustration, there was the noise of footsteps outside the kitchen. Soon the door opened and in came Madam Pomfrey. She looked sternly at everyone's breakfast and seemed to approve. Then she focused on the ginger-haired girl.

"Miss Weasley, as soon as you're finished I want to do a check up on you. You too Mr. Malfoy."

Draco palled dramatically. What had he done to attract the attention of the mediwitch? He was about to protest, but Ginny beat him to that.

"Why? I'm in perfect health…"

"Ginevra." Interrupted Mrs. Weasley. "I asked Madam Pomfrey to come because I want you to take better care of yourself now. She can do many recommendations and…"

"So, you want to make sure that I'm telling the truth? You don't believe me?" Snapped Ginny, completely shocking her mother.

"I didn't say that Ginny, I'm assuming you're telling the truth and I want you checked by a mediwitch, like every pregnant woman is."

"So you can do something to prevent it? Sorry mother, that's not going to happen!"

Now everybody was speechless, and looking at Ginny with wide incredulous eyes. Mrs. Weasley finally stuttered.

"W-what?"

"I'm not a fool mom! In a week it'll be one month of my pregnancy, and any induced abortion would be illegal. I'm not giving any of you the chance to ruin this! Not this time mom!"

She hurriedly circled the table and ran out of the kitchen, leaving a confused family gaping after her. Slowly everyone started to blink and try to recover.

"Well… what the fuck?" Stated Fred. Mrs. Weasley suddenly broke down crying.

"Oh, my Merlin! I don't know what's gotten into her! Someone tell me what I could have done wrong?"

Madam Pomfrey ushered the youngsters out of the kitchen, and then sat at the distraught mother's side. Trying to give the woman some comfort.

The twins marched towards their sister's room and tried to yell some sense into her. When, after a few minutes of fruitless shouting, they were attempting to take down the door, McGonagall appeared out of nowhere, and ordered them to leave the girl alone. The boys snarled one more time at the closed door, and retired to their room to do more productive things.

Harry, Hermione and Draco stayed at the library discussing the events. They were highly concerned for Molly. It looked like Ginny was really loosing it. Well, Harry and Hermione were concerned; Draco was glad that everyone seemed to have forgotten about him. However, he had breathed too soon, because barely half an hour later McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey were at the library's door, looking for him.

"There you are Mr. Malfoy. Please come to your room, we have to do a check up."

The three teenagers looked at the two women in askance. Draco tried to control the nervousness in his voice and asked.

"Why? I've been feeling ok. I have been doing my potions. My magic is fine. There haven't been any more accidents."

Harry was about to ask if something wrong had happened while he wasn't around, but McGonagall spoke before he had the chance.

"Mr. Malfoy, we are concerned about the repercussions that Miss Weasley's careless stunt with the lust potion might have had."

At that Potter went bright red, and looked at the floor. He still felt ashamed over the whole incident. Hermione looked puzzled at the two women, and Malfoy gaped at them while trying to imagine why they would be concerned about that.

"But… I didn't take any potion. Harry did. Besides, it has been more than a month, and I'm fairly well."

McGonagall looked at him sternly.

"Young man, there are certain circumstances that make this check up necessary. The instability of your magic is not the only thing to be worried at."

Draco almost fainted. Did they know something about his pregnancy? How could that be? Neither of them had a dragon-bond. Moody had been present every time he had needed a check up. Granted, he didn't know exactly what Moody had done, but he was sure as hell that he wouldn't have spilled the secret. Granger looked at him with interest while Harry started to get worried.

"B-but…"

"No buts Mr. Malfoy. Let's go to your room, please."

Draco didn't know what to do. He stood on shaky legs and nervously followed Madam Pomfrey into the hall. There, realizing that McGonagall had stayed behind, he quickly called Dobby and sent him to look for Moody.

Meanwhile, Harry had stopped the Gryffindor professor. He was anxious and started to get pretty much annoyed. He just knew that there was something that they weren't telling him.

"Professor, what exactly is wrong with Draco?"

Minerva pressed her lips tightly. She had known that it had been a bad idea to let the Malfoy boy stay, but for some reason Alastor had been specially interested in having the blond at hand. She knew that they should have at least informed the rest of the teenagers of Malfoy's unique situation, but Remus and Molly had not agreed. And well, actually no one had ever expected that something like THIS would happen! Sometimes she felt like wriggling Molly's children's necks!

Still, there was no need to jump to harsh conclusions. After all, there was no way to know if the boy's new anatomy was actually functional. She fervently hoped not.

"There's nothing you should worry about for now Mr. Potter. Madam Pomfrey just needs to check if Mr. Malfoy's levels of magic weren't disturbed by the event. He is in a critical moment of his life and whatever the Death Eaters did to him is not making things easier. He is specially sensible."

Harry frowned and started to feel unease, but Hermione only looked confused.

"But professor, as Malfoy was saying, it has been a month and a half. If his magic had suffered any disturbance we would have noticed by now."

"Still, it doesn't hurt to be sure. Now wait here, it wouldn't take long."

She hurriedly walked out of the library before the young witch started to ask more questions. Hermione looked at her retreating figure with a frown on her face. Something was not right. Harry turned towards her and asked:

"What do you think Hermione? Could I have hurt him that much?"

"Of course not Harry! If his magic had been in someway compromised, which by the way I highly doubt could be possible, it would have shown right away! Remember when Ginny hexed him? The reaction was immediate! There's no way that more than a full six weeks had passed by with absolutely nothing happening if his magical core had destabilised again!"

"Oh. Well then, what do you think is happening?"

"I don't know. But they must be worried, McGonagall even had a hard time making up such a lame excuse for not to tell us."

They decided to wait in the parlour for news. They had tried to do so right in front of Harry's and Draco's room, but they had found out that Mad Eye had arrived and had warded the entire hall. Harry started to get angry at all the secrecy. He should know what happened in his own house! The twins assured him that there had been nothing out of the ordinary as they had been spending a lot of time with Malfoy. He wasn't sure he entirely liked that, but he reasoned that it was good that they were looking out for Draco. That meant that they had accepted the boy. But the adults were acting like they were still bloody children! He needed to know what was the problem, so he could help! It was infuriating!

Harry could feel when the wards were lifted and immediately ran to intercept Moody and McGonagall. The elder witch was positively fuming. She glared as Mad Eye quickly explained the youngsters that there was nothing wrong with the blond, but that Madam Pomfrey was going to be checking him constantly to be on the safe side. Both of them refused to answer more questions and flooded out of the house.

Madam Pomfrey and Mrs. Weasley had attempted to talk with Ginny, but the girl had stubbornly refused to let them inside her room. She had convinced herself that no one wanted her pregnant and that her own family was conspiring to take away her child and her future. So, when Harry and the others found the two elder witches, Mrs. Weasley was crying inconsolably and they didn't have the heart to ask her for more details.

Pomfrey however took Harry and Hermione aside while the twins attempted to calm their mother. She explained to them that Malfoy was not to do any strenuous activity. Even when the boy looked fine his core had sustained some kind of damage, and his magic was been somehow drained from him. Harry was immediately anxious, but Hermione asked how it could have happened. The mediwitch pressed her lips together. She mentioned that she was not really sure what had been done to the Slytherin boy, but his body was reacting in strange ways. It was necessary that they kept a close watch on Malfoy, and informed the adults of any problem that may present itself. Both teenagers promised to do so, Hermione still not very convinced. She knew that there must be something more. But she let it be. Madam Pomfrey left as soon as she checked on Mrs. Weasley one last time without better results.

Finally, Harry went to his room to check on Malfoy while Hermione tried to figure things out in the library.

He found the Slytherin sitting on an armchair, looking into space without moving a muscle while Kreacher tried to coax him to drink some tea. Harry scowled at the unhappy figure, but still marched decidedly towards the boy and put himself on his line of vision, forcing the blonde to acknowledge him. Draco looked up at him, but almost immediately averted his eyes. Harry sighed in frustration and told Kreacher to leave the tea and go. Once the elf was gone, the blond decided to speak.

"So, now that I'm useless would you still want me around?"

Harry's eyes widened a fraction, and he approached the boy anxiously.

"What?"

Malfoy sighed and shook his head despairingly.

"I'm not going to repeat myself Potter! Just save the pity!"

Harry narrowed his eyes. He had caught on that Draco called him by his surname whenever he was nervous or deeply distressed. Frankly, given Poppy's news Harry could sympathize with the blond, but he refused to let him sank into depression.

"Listen Draco, you're not useless. You help us a lot with the training and the potions."

The blond looked at him curiously, as if trying to know if Harry was making fun of him.

"You mean McGonagall didn't tell you?"

Harry blinked in confusion.

"McGonagall? What's she have to do with it? She was in a hurry to go."

"I'm surprised. She was most vocal in her statement that I shouldn't be here."

The Gryffindor gaped at him, and immediately huffed.

"What? Why would she…? Oh, you know what? Forget about her. I don't know what she has against you, but you're staying here! Besides, there's nothing wrong with you helping us. Madam Pomfrey only said that you are not to do anything too tiring, which you already do anyway, and that we should keep tabs on your magic, but that's all. There's no reason for you to go."

Draco sighed. If Harry only knew. Maybe he will be the first to send Malfoy away if he knew the truth. As it was, things were getting out of control. The Slytherin boy was waiting for the moment when it all will fall apart. For now, it seemed like Madam Pomfrey had not informed Potter of everything she had found.

"Did the mediwitch tell you about my core?"

"Yes, she said that your magic is draining and that it could be very dangerous."

"And because of that it's not safe for me to be near a potions lab. So, I'm not brewing anymore."

Harry scowled.

"She didn't mention that." He thought for a moment and then looked at the blond again. "But still, that's no reason for you to feel useless, much less for you to be gone. You still can help us with the research and the dark spells, or growing potions ingredients in the garden. There's plenty for you to do."

Draco bit his lip nervously, and thought about telling Harry that he was not supposed to do any gardening, as Pomfrey had catalogued it as hard work. She had also put Draco on a strict diet to provide enough nutrients for an army, and had passed a list to the house elves with the food he needed. _"In any combination he likes."_ She had said. The blond decided that there was no need to give more information to the Gryffindor. The boy could start asking more questions; besides, Draco already had enough fussing around him to last a lifetime.

"Ok, but McGonagall said…"

"Don't worry about her. I know that she is distrustful of Slytherins right now, but you have changed. I trust you, and this is my home anyway. It's just fair that I get to say who stays in here."

Draco wondered if it was only the dragon's magic influence what was making Harry act the way he was acting, or if the boy would still insist in providing a safe place for Draco for his own volition. He decided that he probably would never know anyway, so it was useless to press the issue.

"Fine. But I don't want to be close by when you and McGonagall settle this."

Harry smiled, feeling more at ease now.

Having settled the immediate problem, they spent the rest of the day studying in relative peace with Hermione.

* * *

Remus hated to be around pregnant people. The wolf felt restless and strangely protective at the same time. Its territorial instincts were completely awake and it was constantly trying to reassert its place in the pack. This made Remus irritable and nervous. It was even worse if the parents of the non-born were not considered part of the pack. Then the wolf felt challenged, and was in constant alert, ready to display aggressiveness at the minor provocation. Lupin hated to have an alpha wolf. He had to be fighting the instincts that were trying to force him to go straight to the source of his discomfort, and either acknowledge the new member of the pack or terminate the nuisance. It was not conductive to proper social behaviour.

It was only a day since he had returned to Grimmauld place, and already he was going nuts. It didn't help that McGonagall had taken upon herself to inform him of everything that had happened on his absence. The first impulse of the werewolf had been to feel guilty for not been there when Harry had clearly needed him. Then he had had to restrain himself, so he won't tear Ginny Weasley apart. Besides that, the smell of pregnancy was pushing him to the edge. The full moon had just been a couple of days before, and the wolf simply refused to let go of consciousness entirely. He really needed to find a way to block it or he was not going to be capable of living in headquarters.

That day, Lupin was trying to have a conversation with Harry, but frankly he felt like he understood only half of what the boy was saying. Apparently his cub was trying to apologize for Tonks' death. It beat Remus the reason why Harry should feel guilty about that.

"Listen cub, it's alright. I mourn Tonks, but you have no reason to think that it was your fault."

"But… the trap. If I had stayed home…"

"Harry, we are in a war. You felt the need to go help your loved ones and acted like your heart told you to. There would always be a trap waiting for us. Each fight we fought could be our last one. We all know this. You don't have to feel responsible for every single person that dies."

Harry looked downcast, and Remus pulled him into a tight embrace.

"I'm sorry for having disappeared like that cub. I know you have had a hard time."

"It's been a mess Remus!" Harry regretfully let go of his putative godfather and started to fret. "I'm trying to focus on my training and the studies that Mrs. Weasley wants us to do, but I can't help worrying!"

Lupin sighed. He had had a long talk with Moody about the situation in the house. All the mess that Ginny had created, and her obsession with Harry had resulted to be an unending fountain of problems. Remus could not believe that the young witch had been so stupid. Even taking such risk as brewing a pregnancy potion herself! Poor Harry didn't need more pressure right now.

"And even worse! I don't want to even look at Ginny, but I'll have to speak with her sooner or later because she refuses to let Madam Pomfrey see her, even when she's already five weeks pregnant! And Molly says that can't be good for the baby and she refuses to go to St. Mungo's! I don't like the idea of her being pregnant; I don't want to have nothing to do with that child! But at the same time I think that… well, Mrs. Weasley is so upset, and… actually it's not the baby's fault… But I just don't want to be near her! What I'm going to do?"

Remus looked perplexed at his godson for a moment, and remembered McGonagall's complains about the same issue. In his talk with Alastor he had not mentioned his concerns about the red-haired girl. He had been concentrated on the Malfoy boy, considering that situation to be the most important. He had to do something to correct this, Harry and the others needed to know what he thought. He was about to speak when Bill Weasley suddenly entered the study and interrupted them.

"Bill! What are you doing here?"

"Mr. Lupin… The Death Eaters… You-know-who has found out the Ministry's location!"

"What?"

"We can't reach them sir!"

The three men hurried to the parlour of the house, where the twins were stopping an almost hysterical Molly.

"Remus! Remus! We have to hurry!"

"No Molly, no! You wait here! I'll contact Moody and Shacklebolt. Together we'll find the way to the Ministry."

"But Remus, Percy!"

"It's no use you getting out of headquarters if you can't find a way to help! Wait here Molly, I'll contact you as soon as possible."

Bill and Remus flooed out of the house, leaving Harry and the twins to calm Molly down.

* * *

It was evident that there were no survivors. The entire area was no more than crumbled buildings and extinguished fires. The muggle police was trying to keep people out of the disaster zone. No one knew what had happened, but the firemen believed that it had been a gas explosion. They refused to tell the masses of the possibility of a terrorist attack. That would only create panic.

Remus and Mad Eye stood in the middle of it all. The disillusionment charms were hiding them from the muggles. They had been unable to find Shacklebolt, and they couldn't arrive in time to help. Not that it would have mattered. If they had breached the wards sooner they'll probably be dead too. The Ministry of Magic was no more. They should have known that something like this was coming. After all, it was Halloween.

The next day the wireless and the Prophet announced the Dark Lord Voldemort as the leader of Wizarding Brittain.


	18. An Accidental Release of Magic

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Author's note:** Just a reminder that I started to write this fiction before DH, so even when I'm taking some ideas in consideration, I'm not following canon at the letter. I'm changing several facts about the horcruxes and not including the deathly hallows at all. For the purposes of this tale, Voldemort only got to create six horcruxes and Harry is not one of them.

The three following chapters are a mess and I'm trying to make some sense of them. In the meanwhile, I think that I have this presentable enough.

**Chapter 1****7. An Accidental Release of Magic.**

It was amazing how everything had changed in a few days. There had been Voldemort's sympathizers in the Ministry, but no one had known exactly how many. It turned out that there had been enough, both there and in the wizengamot, to quickly put the Aurors and the rest of the government in Voldemort's hands. There had been chaos for a couple of weeks and then months of terror had followed. The Order had been quite busy trying to help people. The first priority had been St. Mungo's. The Aurors had invaded the Hospital in search for "dangerous criminals" and with orders to take into custody any member from the families that still opposed the Dark Lord openly. Fortunately, by then most of the patients had been evacuated, and taken to secure locations under fidelius. Many mediwizards and mediwitches went into hiding with their patients, same as the entire Order of the Phoenix.

Without a spy on Voldemort's ranks the light side lost territory quite quickly. A law was passed which forbade muggleborns from owning a wand and forced them to register and have a pureblood family willing to answer for them. The muggleborns would have to be in the pureblood's service without the benefit of any payment. The ones that failed to find an acceptable family to serve were to be confined in a new prison somewhere underground London.

Many had tried to escape to the muggle world or to other countries, only to find out that the Death Eaters had tampered the wards protecting the magical world to track the person trying to leave and were immediately surrounded by Aurors and taken into custody.

Also, Voldemort was using very powerful ancient and archaic magic to ensure that no one with a magical core would be able to escape the wizarding world. Apart from the modified wards in all the places where the muggle world and the wizarding one met, there was the simple fact that now no wizard was able to have any kind of contact with a muggle. If a witch or a wizard tried to talk with one of them they were ignored, as if they didn't exist. It was as if a repelling muggle charm had been cast over every wizard and witch. In addition, there was a new kind of wards that prevented magical people to leave or enter Britain. Whoever tried it the muggle way was immediately apparated back to the new Government's offices. Portkeys, floo, brooms and even apparition would not work if one wanted to cross the sea, and the experience was quite painful.

And there were the dragons.

Everyone had been quite shocked to see that the Death Eaters were able to control dragons. They used them to attack ancient wizarding manors of families that had attempted to recluse themselves in their states. And the magical beasts were also patrolling the border of the island, making sure that no courageous soul would try and swim out of the country. By the time the New Year came around, the Britain had been effectively isolated from the rest of the world.

The Order had spent a miserable Christmas helping to evacuate a town mostly inhabited by squibs that had gotten trapped between the magical and muggle world. The Dark Lord had just declared squibs as a nature's mistake that had to be corrected.

Another thing was that every magical creature was to be registered and considered under the new law as subservient to the wizards. So far the only creatures that were safe from the Dark Regimen were the Goblins, and that was because even Voldemort wasn't so fool as to attack the very creatures that held the financial sustain of the whole magical world in their hands.

Facing the impossibility to leave, many families had been forced to adapt to the new government and many others had been pushed into hiding, servitude or death.

In Grimmauld place reigned the uncertainty and desolation. Molly Weasley was inconsolable. Percy was dead, and there had been no way to retrieve his body with the New Regimen's Aurors and the Death Eaters supervising the dispose of the corpses left after the fall of the old Ministry. Ron was safely in hiding along with other St. Mungo's patients, but it was too risky to go visit. Charlie was stuck in Romania with no means of communication. The poor woman's nerves were at their very limit.

McGonagall, Mad Eye, Bill and Fleur had moved to the house too. Madam Pomfrey was in one of St. Mungo's secret locations and reported every once in a while. Shacklebolt was dead and the entire Order had a price on their heads.

Alastor had been furious because someone had betrayed the fact that he was the secret keeper of the Order's Headquarters and that Harry Potter was hiding there. So now Minerva had forbidden Moody to take any stupid risks. Meaning he was technically confined to the house. Harry thought that McGonagall was exaggerating, but the reality was that the situation was too much for the witch to handle, and she was slowly letting the pressure overwhelm her. The rest of them however got to help in the missions more often, even Harry. McGonagall had been pretty pressed to get the Gryffindor boy out of Grimmauld place, but Bill and Moody had reasoned that if he were seen in many places the Death Eaters would be lead into false tracks. Besides, Harry had to train. The ability to fight was not just going to suddenly appear when he attempted to face Voldemort. So McGonagall had grudgingly accepted that Harry had to aid in the war effort.

Remus had taken to be the scout of the group. Been a werewolf meant that he was a dark creature and was entitled to go around with more freedom than the other Members of the Order. He was investigating all he could, trying to infiltrate various zones where some magical creatures had been confined, and had even found a group of rebels that were accepting his support to plan certain attacks to the Dark Regimen. He was the one of the Order with more activity, but that meant that he was no longer residing in Headquarters.

Harry was getting desperate. Each day that went by without finding the last horcrux was one more day of Voldemort's rule. McGonagall had considered prudent to wait until things had settled down a little and in the meanwhile gather all the information they possibly could, before risking a search to one specific location. Especially when that location had to be important to You-Know-Who, and their quest was bound to be noticed by someone.

The group had also been trying to find a way to destroy the horcruxes safely without success. There were some references to dark ancient rituals that could be of use, but they were too complicated and required a sacrifice to be made. Often someone's death was the price. Draco had found a mention to "mythical fire" to be able to purify and destroy evil souls. They had decided that it might refer to the Fiendfyre, though they were dubious at the "purifying" part. They had tried the spell on the attic. They had even found a way to contain the fire of the spell in a magically enclosed area. But even when the fire burned for quite a while, to the extent of almost getting out of control, the horcruxes had remained untouched. The group had however felt an awful lot of dark magic permeating the attic and had to fight against the lure of the horcruxes to use their power. The lot of them had been irritable and angry for several days after that.

January passed by and it was February before McGonagall agreed to let Harry go in search for another artefact in company of Hermione, the twins and Moody, who was getting quite intolerable to live with. The rest stayed in the house, worrying. It was not very comfortable, and Bill soon regretted having accepted to stay behind to appease his mother. But there was nothing he could do, so he endured being babysitter of a bunch of nervous women and a slightly irritable Draco Malfoy.

The blond Slytherin was aghast with Harry's recent departure. He was starting the sixth month of pregnancy already and had been extremely anxious the previous months. Apparently there had been no change in his physical aspect. Moody had put a glamour on him so no one would notice his growing belly. Apart from that, the elves had put several protection spells all over the place to prevent accidents. Malfoy felt like an old woman being taken care of, and it was annoying. Fortunately the danger of his magical core depleting had diminished, even with Harry absent many times over the last three months. Sally had mastered the trick of borrowing magic from Draco's environment, which at the moment consisted of the House. That lessened the strain from the pregnancy in a considerable amount, but Sally came and went from Draco's consciousness quite a lot. Even so, the blond still needed Harry's magic to be stable and the baby felt upset if both its parents weren't around.

Also, Draco had already decided that all the grown ups were idiots. He didn't know why Moody bothered with the glamour. It wasn't as if the entire household hadn't noticed that something was wrong with him. Besides, the only ones who didn't know what exactly was happening were the teenagers, Bill and Fleur! And that was only because the war had taken precedent! Everyone else was well aware of his situation and did no effort to hide it! He had seen McGonagall discussing with Moody and Mrs. Weasley. He knew that the professor wanted to tell the youngsters about the situation, but Alastor and Mrs. Weasley consistently refused. The blond Slytherin knew that the Weasley matron was trying to protect her family and that she still considered everyone under Bill's age to be just children, but Moody was only being a prat!

It was stupid. Draco had no idea of why Alastor had forbidden him from telling Harry and his friends the exact same tale the adults knew. As ridicule as said tale was to Draco, it was better than nothing! The situation was getting very difficult for him. Fleur and Hermione kept looking at him speculatively, no doubt trying to solve the problem of what was wrong with him. Bill was mostly avoiding him, and the twins questioned him from time to time. Harry just looked at him with that worrying frown on his face that made Draco want to strangle him.

He was tired of not having an explanation for Moody banning him from every activity that might imply the sightless bit of effort. Or for the constant inquiries about his well being from both Mrs. Weasley and McGonagall, the last with some rancour. Much less could he explain Madam Pomfrey's constant visits, seeing as his magic seemed to be perfectly fine, and he even had been allowed a borrowed wand to start practicing again. There was so much fuss around him! Why they insisted in keeping the reason of the constant Draco-worry from the youngsters was a mystery to the blond. Harry was the most entitled to know about it! Draco had spent the last two months feeling indignant and angry at the low respect for Harry's opinion that everyone was showing.

The problem was that he didn't seem to gather enough courage to tell him either. He had been trying. And always something happened that prevented him from explaining his predicament. Either someone interrupted them or Harry started confiding his own worries to Draco, and the blond would simply shut up and wait for another time. Apart from that, he was always nervous around Granger. The girl was looking more suspicious every time she saw Draco. The blond feared that she'll find out the truth by her own before he had the chance to tell Harry himself, but he couldn't find the appropriate way of telling him and avoid an angry reaction.

There were times at night when Draco felt he could talk more freely, but then Harry will tell him all about the war and the resistance that some people were trying to put together. Their few escapades to help the Order and to throw the Death Eaters out of path were a matter of worry too. Harry seemed to worry at just about everything. From where Remus could be at the moment to what they were going to do if they couldn't find the last of Voldemort's artefacts.

Then, to top it all, there was Ginny.

Fortunately, she was no longer living with them. It had been quite a battle, and much pressure on Molly, but Harry's comfort was first. Ginny had no place anymore in the same house that Harry was living in. She had been furious, but McGonagall and Moody got her out of Grimmauld place and sent to the Longbottom's state, which had been one of the few that had been put under fidelius before the Death Eaters had attacked with the dragons. Bill and Fleur had been notified of the situation, much to Harry's embarrassment, and had decided to stay neutral. Though Ginny was his favourite sibling, Bill wasn't at all pleased with what she had done and had been pressed to not give her a good trashing. Molly visited her frequently, though her sons didn't like that because each time she returned more depressed. Everyone knew that Ginny was still refusing to see a mediwitch, insisting that Harry should go with her because it was his child too.

Truth be told, Mrs. Weasley was deeply worried. Despite everything that she had done, Ginny was still Molly's only daughter. And it hadn't been the child's fault to be conceived, and it wasn't its fault that Ginny was so… stupid. Harry was aware that Mrs. Weasley was restraining herself in order to not to go and plead him to talk with her daughter. He didn't want anything to do with the bitch, but he felt sorry for Molly. Harry was starting to feel guilty for not caring more about the health of the child. Well, for not caring at all about it. He had been talking about it more frequently with Draco.

And Draco would ease his worries the best he could and decide that maybe the grown-ups had a point in not wanting Harry to know about his own pregnancy. It was not fair to add more problems to the boy's, already heavy, burden. Deep inside him, Draco just knew that Potter would end up returning with the Weasley girl out of misplaced guilt, and there was nothing he could do to prevent it. If Harry knew about Draco's child the conflict would be much worse. The blond was not going to be the cause of more pain for Harry. So, he convinced himself, night after night, that Potter was better of not knowing about his pregnancy. Night after night he reminded himself that the Gryffindor boy was going to hate him, and give him the same treatment he gave to the Weasley girl, as soon as he knew the truth.

The bond between them made keep the secret more difficult. The constant flow of magic between the two boys made Draco long for confidence in his child's sire, for full support and acceptance. The untold things between them were slowly killing him. He was not going to take it for much longer.

He lay on his bed, thinking morosely about the mess that was his life and rubbing circles over his stomach. Even with the glamour, he could feel his belly getting bigger and the baby moving inside. The discomfort had grown exponentially over the last two months. He had not really experimented morning sickness, thank the Gods, but he had been dizzy and cranky on occasion and his lower body ached in the evenings. He felt weird. And heavy. His feet usually complained if he dared to remain standing on them for too long. In fact, all the parts of his body had some form of ache. He couldn't remain laying in any position for long, and his hips and lower back complained if he sat in anything harder than cushions. His insides churned every once in a while and he had grown fond of blackberries and chocolate.

He was keeping his discomfort to himself and was trying to act normal, which was getting increasingly difficult. He had already had a close call when one morning everyone had looked funny at him because he had put honey syrup on his scrambled eggs. The day before that he had bathed his roast beef with whipped cream, but no one had noticed due to some interesting discussion about the Dark Lord's regimen. That morning though, everyone seemed to be looking at him. And from then on they had noticed all the strange little things that Draco had been doing with his food. Like refusing to eat anything that had cheese on it, or tending to put chocolate over everything at dinner. Harry had even asked him why he got up at night to go to the kitchen. Draco had not noticed that he had been experimenting cravings until Hermione had commented that it was as if Draco was channelling Ginny's pregnancy. Draco had been horrified and had consciously tried to eat normally when the other teenagers were around. But every time he was alone, or the others were in training, he asked the house-elves to bring him his honey syrup with a soup or a big glass of chocolate milk.

The mood swings were also a pain in the ass. Harry was constantly checking if he felt all right, and that annoyed him. He wanted to be left alone. But then, when he was alone, he felt bored, walked to the potions' lab, realize that he was banned from there, and started to cry because he felt so useless. At least no one had discovered him doing that yet.

Fortunately for him, the war was demanding most of Harry's attention and it was possible to keep his secret somewhat safely. But Draco was no fool. He knew that the Gryffindor would discover it sooner or later and would demand an explanation. The blond cursed Moody under his breath. It would be so much easier if the bloody ex-auror would help him with Harry! But no! Harry should not know anything because _'its easier that way'_! Easier for whom exactly? It certainly wasn't Draco the one benefited from Harry's ignorance!

The blond sighed in resignation and Sally nuzzled his back, her magic going up and down his spine in a comforting pattern, massaging it at the same time. The boy let Sally ease his aches a bit. It was almost dinnertime and Mrs. Weasley was sure to come drag him to the kitchen. Hopefully this time he would be able to convince her that he was not hungry.

* * *

It was a desperate situation. Harry was holding his own very well, barely managing to protect himself and Hermione from the multiple hexes thrown to them. The girl was unconscious, with an open gash along her right flank oozing a slimy green substance. Alastor was nowhere in sight and the twins were busy keeping the inferi at bay. Harry looked desperately around him, hoping to spot an escape route.

Someone grabbed him from behind and pulled him towards what looked like an ancient tree. Before he could comprehend what was happening, the tree's bark cracked and opened and he was pulled inside it.

* * *

Lord Voldemort was listening with growing fury how his imbeciles Death Eaters had managed to loose Potter again. They claimed that the boy and his companions had received help from a group of rebels and they had been unable to track them. He cursed them all with a few crucios for their incompetence and sent them to continue searching for insurgents and mudbloods. He put Lucius Malfoy in charge of the planning to start the purge of Britain and then retired to his chambers.

He sat in a comfortable armchair in his study and started to think. There had been very little information of value in the Death Eaters' report, but there had been something that had attracted the Dark lord's curiosity. Potter's little party had been found near the Lestrange's state. At the very border of the forest where the entrance of a system of underwater caves was located. Those caves had once been used for ancient rituals. Voldemort himself had once explored them, fascinated by the amount of magic stored in the stones.

What could Potter be doing in those caves? They hadn't been used for decades. They were now bereft of any magical energy since he and his Death Eaters had used it to bind the common dragons under their control. Bellatrix had said that Potter's group seemed to be searching for something. What could that possibly be? He turned idly to look at a particular spot before the fire where Nagini had used to rest and he growled.

He was still furious over Nagini's loss. It shouldn't have happened at all! And that stupid Lucius playing with his diary and provoking its destruction! Two horcruxes lost in fruitless accidents!

Mmm… Voldemort continued looking at Nagini's empty spot. He had been close by when it had happened. Had apparated there as soon as he had felt Potter's presence on the battlefield and had sent Nagini to find the brat. The incompetent fools at the ministry never knew what had happened, but he did. He had seen it all through the deceased serpent's eyes. She had been ready to attack a young man who had been standing in her way to Potter, when a woman had pushed the boy out of the way and had attacked with a staff. It had been obvious that the fool witch hadn't had a clue of what exactly she had gotten in her hands. She had been manipulating the powerful artefact as if it had been a crude muggle weapon! Outrageous!

Voldemort knew about staffs. Only the most powerful wizards and witches could use one of those. Merlin and Morgana had had one, and Dumbledore himself had possessed his own before…

The Dark Lord had laughed at the witch's idiocy and had prompted Nagini forwards, going for the kill. He had never expected that the contact with the serpent-horcrux would activate the staff's magic. With no one to control the direction and the power of such magic, it had simply exploded, destroying everything in close proximity. Staff and horcrux included. The pain had been unbearable. Voldemort cursed the fates once more. The Potter brat had an unbelievable amount of luck to have destroyed two horcruxes in such accidents!

He thought about it a bit more. Perhaps they had not been exactly 'accidents.' The witch had brandished the staff in a very purposeful manner, and based on Snape's reports, the Potter brat had got into the Chamber of Secrets with the very intention of destroying the thing that had been controlling the basilisk. Not at all an accident.

He remembered then that one of his contacts had informed him that Dumbledore had been seen around the old orphanage where Tom Riddle had grown up. And after that, near his mother's childhood home…

Could they possibly… know?

It was very difficult to destroy the horcruxes, but not impossible, as demonstrated by his two lost ones. Dumbledore had been seen messing about in places that Tom Riddle had dwelled in. Potter also seemed to be following his trace. Could they be searching in every important location? And, had Dumbledore had an objective in mind?

Enraged, he got out of the study and went to a room dedicated specifically for his rituals. There he had recovered from the damage caused by Nagini's destruction and there he had cast the curse over the wizarding world that prevented any contact with the muggles. There was where he once had sealed the door to the Rainbow Dragons' realm.

He prepared an ample area in the centre of the room and magically traced some runes around it in a complicated pattern. Then he sat in the middle and started a chant. Words were flowing in a rhythmic cadence from his mouth. The air stilled, heavy with magic, and his mind began to search.

_

* * *

There was… a weird feeling in the house. Something that shouldn't exist. Corrupt magic, trying to permeate the walls. _

_Sally stirred inside Draco's mind. She had felt the corruption since it had entered the house. It had been dormant then, but still powerful and unstable. The humans had disturbed it some days ago, apparently trying to dispose of it. In retaliation it had tried to destroy them, though no one had really noticed. Regardless, every inhabitant of the house had been very close to be infected with the corrupt magic. They had barely managed to seal it again and had let it lay undisturbed since then. But now it was awakening, stronger and hungry._

_Sally's senses were very perceptive, even if Draco's were blocked. She tried to move the boy's body without disturbing his mind's much needed rest and Draco's eyes opened._

_All around her vessel, Sally could feel the corrupt magic. It was answering to a calling. Draco's body sat up on the bed and his head moved around, golden eyes focusing on the door. The boy got out of bed and stood awkwardly, trying a few steps to test his equilibrium. In a few moments he managed to get to the door and out of the room. Sally could now sense the whole house. The other humans were sleeping. Their dreams were starting to be disturbed by the waves of magical energy. The house elves were awakening, sensing something wrong in the house that was their very existence and immediately trembling in fear. They would not approach the source of the disturbance. It was too powerful for them and it'll only corrupt them more easily._

_Draco's body started to walk towards the attic. Through his eyes, Sally looked at the wave of the house's magic changing to a sickening putrid gray colours and snap in some places as the corruption infected it. Draco's consciousness started to stir as they reached the attic and opened the door. The boy's drowsy brain tried to wake up and started to perceive that he was not in the bed, but Sally barely acknowledged him. She was too busy focusing on the foul magic emanating from a sealed trunk in a corner of the attic. Those things must be vanished. They should not exist. They had destroyed the very magic that had created them and would do the same with everything they could reach. _

_Draco's anguished whimper didn't distract her. She needed to do this for him. She had to protect her human, and Draco and his cub would not be safe while these things existed. Suddenly feeling as if she was back in her own body, she pulled back her head and opened her mouth. Ready to attack. _

Draco was afraid and mighty confused. He didn't know what was happening. He could perceive he was in the attic, but it was as if he was walking through a dense fog. Faintly he could sense that Sally was wide-awake and in control of his body, but why? How had she managed to do it? And what the hell were they doing in the attic?

Through the haze and confusion he saw something in front of him. A trunk. The very trunk where Harry and the others had put the things that they wanted to destroy.

'_They must be vanished.'_

Draco was dimly aware of Sally's thoughts and was growing afraid by the second. He didn't want to be there. He wanted to turn around and get out. Those things were evil and already he could feel their magic trying to pull him, to make him hold them and use them. He tried to regain control of his body, but found out that Sally's will was just too powerful for him. He tried to protest, but suddenly something really weird happened. He could perceive Sally's thoughts with perfect clarity. The corrupt magic should be destroyed before it infected the entire house. Draco felt his body changing. He felt as if he was suddenly bigger and stronger. His sharp eyes focused solely on the threat in front of him. His talons affianced him on the floor. He itched to slice the things with them, but it was not necessary to approach them. He was dimly aware of two little presences at his back, easily ignored. He pulled back what now felt like his enormous head, and did what every dragon could do. He spit a column of fire.

* * *

Voldemort got pushed out of his reverie by the intense pain. He screamed inhumanly and took his hands to his face, turning around in the floor at the same time. Burning. He was burning. He could see flames all around him. With intense effort he collected his mind and broke the connection he had established with his horcruxes. He lay semi conscious on the floor for long minutes. When he finally recovered enough to get up he did so with an enraged cry. He started sending curses all around him, destroying the entire room in mere seconds. After a while he collected himself and started to think.

How could this have happened? Who was responsible for this? He had felt clearly how two of his horcruxes were destroyed. They had been together, of that much he was certain. The surroundings had not been familiar, and they were certainly not in the same places he had left them. They had been protected behind strong wards, but not ones of his making. He had been trying to break through the wards, to disclose the horcruxes' location when the fire had come. It had not been part of the wards; at least it hadn't felt like it. He doubted that the magic had triggered some kind of defence. It hadn't been a common fire either. It had been eerie and flashed purple. Someone or something had deliberately destroyed his horcruxes, but how?

Of the others, only one had answered to his mental call, the one hidden in Hogwarts castle. Granted, he actually didn't know how exactly the horcrux had ended in the castle. He had confided it to Lucius with strict instructions to keep it in his vault at Gringotts. However, he had also instructed him that if there was ever the opportunity to get it inside of the school that he didn't doubt in take it.

He raged again and blasted some hapless stones. That Potter brat was responsible of this! He was sure!

Now more than ever Voldemort felt certain that the boy had his prize. Somehow the dragon he had been hunting eighteen years ago had managed to hide her dragonling with Potter! That dragon was the last of its species and should be his! The Potter brat was going to pay!

* * *

Far away, in an underground refuge made by the rebels, Harry woke up with a scream. The twins approached him somewhat drowsily.

"What's up mate?"

"Bad dreams?"

Harry gulped and took a deep breath.

"Yeah… Riddle is very mad… Something important happened, but I don't know what. I think it has to do with the artefacts."

The twins looked at one another and then returned to look at Harry.

"Do you think he knows that we are looking for them?"

"I hope not! We only have to find one more! If he retrieves it before us things are gonna get awfully complicated."

The three teens lamented the lack of information they had. Resignedly they decided that for the moment it was better to sleep and analyze things in the morning.


	19. Aftermath

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Chapter 1****8. Aftermath.**

The elves were frantic. They did quite a miracle containing the fire into the attic, but now they just wanted to put it out badly. Bill, Fleur, McGonagall and Molly watched open mouthed as neon purple flames danced behind the wards that the elves had hurriedly put together.

The house shaking and the loud screams had woken them up from their nightmares, and they had run upstairs, following their instincts that something bad was happening with You-know-who's artefacts. Now, as the elves finally managed to put out the fire, they were stunningly looking at the devastation in the attic. Everything had been burned out. The roof was gone and the floor looked as if it will give way soon. The entire room was an undistinguishable mass of burned stone and piles of ash.

The elves ran over to a body in the very middle of the disaster zone. The grown-ups took a second to recognize what it was, and hurriedly approached it too. They took care of testing the way with their wands first, as they didn't want to risk a fall. The elves were hastily trying to levitate the unconscious heap out of the unstable attic. Bill caught up with them midway and carried the boy the rest of the road.

The little group got downstairs quickly and entered Harry's and Draco's room. Bill put his charge on the nearest bed and everyone started to really process what they had just witnessed. They didn't even have to wonder about the artefacts that had been stored in the attic. Everyone knew they had been destroyed. They could feel it in the lack of oppression in the air.

"What the hell happened?" Bill questioned finally.

No one had an answer for him. They checked Malfoy up, surprising themselves at the fact that the boy seemed to be intact. However, he wouldn't wake up, no matter how hard they tried to call him. McGonagall scowled and huffed in irritation.

"What was he doing there? He was practically amongst the flames!"

"He probably arrived before us Minerva." Said Molly.

"Well, clearly he did. But how much earlier? And how did he manage to enter with that fire?"

Fleur looked quizzically at the boy.

"Ma'be he stagted it? 'hen he gotta stuck."

Bill scowled. Malfoy could have looked like someone trapped in a fire if he would have at least some burnings. On the other hand, a purple fire? That had been strange.

"Maybe he was trying to destroy You-know-who's artefacts and his magic got out of control." Molly concluded. A month ago, Madam Pomfrey had deemed safe for Draco to practice magic again. She had needed to check his magical core's strength and had given instructions for him to practice supervised by Moody. Since then Draco had been permitted to carry a spare wand that Kreacher had produced from somewhere. Bill sighed.

"Well, I think he pretty much succeeded."

"I must say that it was a very dangerous deed. It could destroy the entire house easily! It was so… reckless!" Said McGonagall, clearly distressed by the events.

"Calm down Minerva dear." Said Molly. "No one was hurt… well, I certainly hope that the boy is not hurt either. I'll contact Madam Pomfrey immediately. He may need medical attention!"

The woman put herself into motion, flustered that she had not thought about informing the mediwitch earlier. McGonagall followed her, still muttering under her breath about how they had enough with Gryffindor's heroics and they didn't need the Slytherins to start following the same path. Bill looked at the unconscious boy a last time, a bit wary. He didn't know why but Malfoy had been giving him the creeps since he had arrived to Grimmauld place. It was strange. He didn't have the oversensitive senses that Remus had, but he could tell that something in the blond boy was… Well, not exactly wrong… It just felt weird. Like a voice in the back of his head telling him that there was something there that shouldn't be allowed.

Fleur had perceived it too. She said that her veela half wanted to protect the boy. How odd. Bill had first theorized that maybe Malfoy was also part veela but Fleur had denied that. She had said it was just different. She was sure there was something in him, perhaps some creature blood, which she was able to sense but not identify. It was just weird. Bill shook his head and both him and his wife left the room, suddenly wary of what could happen if they linger more than necessary around the blond.

* * *

Harry and the rest were ready to return home. It was just time for dinner and the boy wanted to eat in the house and put everyone at rest. The rebels that had aided them were well organized and resourceful. They had put the Order of the Phoenix to shame in Harry's view, as they didn't need Dumbledore to know what had to be done.

Hermione's injuries had been treated, and the young witch was embarrassed to have been a burden in battle. Harry had dismissed it, saying that they had been outnumbered and had been lucky to get out of there alive. If Moody hadn't contacted Remus before hand, telling him where they had been heading, and if the werewolf hadn't arrived with reinforcements, they would surely have ended dead.

Harry was proud that Remus had managed to get such wonderful allies. The majority of them had been muggleborns who had refused to give up their wands and be slaves to the purebloods, but there were also a good number of half-bloods that were against Voldemort's views. It was a relief to know that the wizarding world was still fighting for freedom.

They were very careful returning home, apparating some blocks away and then walking to the old house disillusioned.

As soon as they put foot in the house, Harry knew that something had changed. He looked around the main parlour nervously. The house felt somehow lighter, but at the same time something was tugging at the back of his head. He couldn't explain it. It was as if someone needed help.

"Dobby!" He called.

The little elf appeared immediately, giving them all a huge smile.

"Master Harry Potter! Master Harry Potter is returned!"

"Dobby, where is everyone? What has happened?"

Dobby lost his smile and wriggled his hands in apprehension, but before he could answer McGonagall's voice greeted them from up the stairs.

"Oh! Thank Merlin you're already here! I hope you had been successful."

Alastor grinned ruefully and answered.

"Alas, we encountered some trouble. But made acquaintances with a group of rebels that Lupin is friends with. What's happened here? The house feels different."

Straight to the point. Harry was grateful for that because he didn't want to wait until they tell the entire story of their mission before knowing what had happened to Grimmauld place. McGonagall pressed her lips tightly.

"Well, it's difficult to explain. Actually Alastor, Madam Pomfrey needs your help."

"Pomfrey is here?" Asked Mad Eye curiously. As his auror training had included healing and several emergency spells, he had been the best aid to the mediwitch in the house.

"Yes." Was the short answer.

It was clear that there was something that McGonagall didn't want to tell them, or didn't know how to. Harry fumed and walked a few steps to the stairs.

"Professor, tell us what's the matter, please. Is something to do with the house?"

McGonagall sighed and after a short debacle with herself decided that there was no point in not telling them.

"Well, the two artefacts that were stored in the attic were destroyed over night." She said. Everyone gaped at her incredulously.

"What?"

"That- That's great!" Said the twins.

"How did you manage it?" Asked a worried Alastor, suspecting that he wasn't going to like the answer.

"We didn't. You see, apparently Mr. Malfoy was the one to do it."

Oh. He definitely didn't like the answer. What had the brat done now?

"Draco?" Said Harry surprised. "But how?"

"We don't know Mr. Potter. There was a terrible noise and we all went upstairs to see the attic in fire. A very special fire if you ask me. It was a bright purple, almost fluorescent. The house-elves managed to contain it and we found that Mr. Malfoy had been inside the attic. We suppose that he started the fire, but he has been unconscious since then. We had been unable to wake him."

Everyone was shocked, save Alastor who was trying very hard to not just start cursing. He quickly went upstairs to check on the boy. Honestly! The brat was supposed to be a Slytherin! This was not the time for him to channel his inner Gryffindor!

As soon as Moody got past McGonagall Harry tried to follow, but the elder witch stopped him.

"Mr. Potter, your presence is not necessary for now. Let Madam Pomfrey and Alastor work."

"Why? I want to see him!"

"You can wait a few moments."

"How badly hurt is he?" Asked Hermione, who was also worried and upset by the news. Malfoy had already managed to establish a tenuous friendship with her, and he was a good study partner.

"He's not hurt. Only unconscious." Said McGonagall shortly. The teens gaped at her.

"But, you said he was trapped in the fire!" Said Harry, now really confused about the gravity of the situation. McGonagall sighed.

"Yes, he was. And we all know that he should have been severely injured. But he isn't. Pomfrey came as soon as we contacted her and was surprised to see that he is physically fine. It's just his magic that has lowered its levels and once again is in danger of depletion, that's why he's unconscious. She thinks that it's only a matter of time for his magic core to recover and he'll be fine."

"And if it doesn't recover?" Asked a worried Harry. "Madam Pomfrey had already told us that Draco's magic was being sucked out somehow. That hadn't changed when we went on our mission; it's only that it had diminished. That's what she has been telling us."

"If his magical core is depleted, then it could cause serious damage to Malfoy, professor." Said Hermione. "He's not a squib, and his magic should be reasserting itself to reach its full potential, which it is not doing. He could end up incapacitated for life!"

Harry was terribly worried.

"But, what was he doing? He knows that he can't abuse his magic! He should have asked for help!"

McGonagall was very tempted to roll her eyes in exasperation at the boy, who had conveniently forgotten his own reluctance to ask for help in the past. She also refrained from bitterly comment that a Slytherin never asked for help, and focused in calming the distraught Gryffindor.

"Mr. Potter, I'm sure that Madam Pomfrey can fix whatever damage that Mr. Malfoy could have inflicted on himself. He's not a small child and was perfectly aware of the consequences should he make a bad use of his magic. Don't forget he's a Slytherin. He wouldn't have done anything that would be utterly detrimental for himself."

Harry mollified somewhat. He reasoned that Draco was not going to do any reckless heroics any time soon. Surely he had calculated whatever he had done so he was not harmed. He scowled. Well, whatever Draco had been thinking surely had not implied getting hurt, but that was exactly what had happened anyway! He protested a bit more, until McGonagall allowed them to wait for news at the boy's door.

They didn't have to wait much. Soon Madam Pomfrey, Molly and Alastor exited the room. Neither looked happy. The twins started to bombard them with questions until their mother yelled at them to be quiet. Then, Madam Pomfrey explained that they had no idea of how Malfoy had managed a spell powerful enough to destroy You-Know-Who's artefacts. His magical core had suffered greatly and was recovering slowly. She needed him to wake up for her to confirm if there could be long-term damage. Harry and the twins asked if they could stay with the blond. Pomfrey would have preferred that the boy was left alone, so he would rest undisturbed, but Moody told the youngsters that it was no problem. The three boys were inside of the room before the mediwitch could protest. Hermione followed them at a more sedate pace. Poppy glared daggers at Mad Eye, who dismissed her saying that they couldn't cause any more damage anyway.

* * *

Draco was floating. It was a weird feeling to be floating in nothingness. He could see clarity all around him, but not a single distinguishable shape. It was so dull. He tried calling for Sally, but there was no answer. He couldn't sense her anywhere. Idly he wondered why she had gone dormant again. Harry had not been away for too long.

Slowly he started to remember the attic, his surprise at having woken up there, with no memory of how he had gotten to the place. Then, there had been the evil magic of the Dark Lord's artefacts trying to invade him. The deep conviction that they had to be destroyed… He had done something, had he not? He remembered having felt powerful. So powerful, and invincible. So… big. It must have been Sally. She had done something to destroy the artefacts, and now she was dormant, and he… Well, he didn't know what the hell was happening to him!

Draco tried not to panic and remain calm. Snape had thought him enough techniques to focus his energy and perceive his surroundings better. He had a bit of difficulty, but eventually he started to feel his own body. He concentrated first on his breathing. In. Out. In. Out. Softly. Then a deep breathe. He started to feel his extremities and move his fingers. He was laying down on his right side, hopefully on his own bed. He'll kill Sally if he woke up in some underground facility where the inhabitants of St. Mungo's were hiding. He moved a bit, taking comfort on the familiar smell of the pillow. He couldn't perceive any disinfectant. Good. He started to open his eyes to take a look around.

The first thing he saw was a mass of black hair right in front of him. He blinked and pushed himself up to sit on the bed. He stared at his room in dreadful surprise for a moment and gulped. Beside him, on his bed, was Harry, sleeping in an awkward position. There was a cat at his feet. He recognized Crookshanks, Granger's monster. It was weird to see it there; the animal was rarely seen in the house. Draco hadn't even know that the cat was in residence until the day he had found Granger admonishing him in the garden for hunting birds. Draco's eyes moved from the purring form to Harry's usual bed, where the twins were tangled into each other and the sheets. The blond huffed and then focused in a corner where a divan had been fixed. Was it Fleur Weasley sleeping there? Finally he noticed Molly on an armchair next to the divan. He was starting to feel truly mortified. What in the fucking hell had happened?

He shook his head and concentrated once more, looking for the source of his own magic. He wasn't surprised to feel that the flow between him and Harry was stronger, but he was aghast to see that he was pulling on the other's magic too. His core seemed to be feeding on everything it could manage. Even the cat's magic was flowing at a minor degree into him. Merlin and all deities! What had Sally done?

A sudden thought made him start in fear. He quickly took his hands over his apparently flat belly, looking for signs of the life inside. There it was. Still strong and healthy. Malfoy sighed in relief. Then he looked over at Harry and debated about what to do. It was semi-dark in the room, but the curtains had been left open and Malfoy could see that morning was approaching. He looked around him again and bit his lip. He was familiar with the feeling of other's magic been pulled by his core. Sally prompted it on occasion when Harry left the house. But he had never tried to control it and was unsure of how to stop it. He concentrated again and tried to feel the different bonds that were now connecting his magic with the others'. He spent quite a while, but one by one he stopped the flow of magic from everyone except Harry and the House. The cat's had stopped by itself. He was just finishing with the twins' when a voice pulled him back to reality.

"Oh Merlin! Draco, you are awake!"

Malfoy hissed at the loud exclamation of Mrs. Weasley, and opened his eyes to see her getting up from the armchair and walking decidedly towards him.

"How long have you been up young man? You should have woken me!"

She started to fumble over him and forced him to lie down again. At his side, Harry stirred and lazily opened his eyes. Molly was trying to tuck him rather tightly in the bed.

"Are you feeling right dear?"

"Yes Mrs. Weasley, I'm fine."

"You wait here, while I call Pomfrey. Harry, go back to sleep sweetheart."

Molly got out of the room and Draco sighed in resignation. Harry's gaze was over him immediately. The blond boy pouted.

"I don't need Madam Pomfrey. I'm fine." He said morosely. He felt a hand squeezing his shoulder lightly.

"I'd like to be sure if you don't mind. You were unconscious for three days you know?"

Draco turned sharply to look at Harry. Three days! Was he joking?

"That long?"

"Yeah. Destroying dangerous artefacts commonly causes some kind of discomfort you know?" He said in an effort to joke. Malfoy paled. So, the things were indeed destroyed.

"A-Are you sure of that?"

"Absolutely. And it was quite impressive. Bill said that the fire was awesome. Purple fire! Could you believe that? I would have expected green fire from you. This time you managed to get everyone's attention. You should have seen Moody. He's totally loosing it. I think you've grown on him."

Draco gulped horrified. Mad Eye and Snape both were going to kill him! And he didn't even know what had happened! Harry smiled at him reassuringly.

"I think that you've spent too long around Gryffindors. You're starting to show recklessness yourself."

Draco made a face and tried to hide under the blankets.

"That's disgusting Potter! I'll never be so careless as to act like a Gryffindor!"

"Oh? Then what were you doing trying to destroy the hor-things all by yourself?"

"I wasn't! I-I don't know what happened! I-I…"

Draco curled and buried himself even more into the bedcovers. What was he going to do now? How was he going to explain that Sally had been the one to destroy the artefacts? If he mentioned he had been possessed by anything at the moment they'll remove him from the house for sure! How was he going to fix this?

The covers around him moved and he felt a hand on the nape of his neck. It started to trace small circles and play with his hair. He almost purred at the feeling. It was so good.

"It's ok. No one's blaming you for anything. I wish you'll tell me what's wrong, lately you've been not quite yourself."

Draco snorted. That was the understatement of the century. The comforter moved again as Harry tried to see his face.

"Draco, what's happening? These last months you have been acting… I don't know, sometimes is like you want to hide in your room and not be bothered with anything, and others… I swear that I've seen you're about to cry; you look so sad some days. What is it?"

Draco bit his lips, wanting very much to curl into Harry's arms and sob. He felt emotionally drained and was not sure at the moment why he ever accepted this deal. Harry's lips were suddenly on his forehead and Draco's heart ached, wondering if Harry's concern was real or just a side effect of the bond.

"I…"

Draco started, thinking carefully of what to say, but at that moment Madam Pomfrey entered the room with Mrs. Weasley in tow. She attempted to get Harry out of the bed and the room, but the Gryffindor boy refused to move from Draco's side. The mediwitch huffed in annoyance and started to run tests on the blond, all the time admonishing him to be more careful in the future and to leave the dangerous stunts to the adults who didn't have their magical cores compromised.

Draco pouted and nodded resentfully at the mediwitch. This was totally unfair! He had done nothing! He wasn't the one that should be scolded! Sally was going to hear him when she came around!

The only good thing was that the artefacts had been destroyed and the house was now free of their influence. The bad side was that everyone was expecting Malfoy to tell them what spell he had used, so they could destroy the last artefact when the time came. McGonagall had been pissed when they couldn't find the wand that Draco had been using. The elves had hidden it and had claimed that it had been destroyed in the fire in order to prevent anyone from discover that it had not been used at all.

When Madam Pomfrey asked him about it, Draco almost panicked. He managed to convince her that he didn't remember all too well what exactly he had done. That he had been sort of experimenting. Thankfully they left it alone for the moment, but warned the boy that Moody would want to know everything he could tell him. The Slytherin was somewhat relieved. At least with Moody he would be able to tell exactly what had really happened.

The revision ended, and although it was obvious that Madam Pomfrey was not satisfied, she let the two boys share the same bed and retired. Mrs. Weasley tried to take Crookshanks with her, but the feline growled dangerously at her when she was about to lift him, so she let him be. Fleur had woken up sometime during the check up and had already got out of the room, having no idea of why she had ended up in Malfoy's bedroom in the first place.

Harry wanted to continue the conversation with Draco, but could see that the blond boy was not up to it. So, they both tried to sleep a bit more until breakfast.

* * *

The talk with Moody didn't go very well. As expected, Draco was left alone with the old ex-auror, and got the tongue lashing of a lifetime. Alastor was upset enough to crudely remind him what was a stake there if something happened to the baby he was carrying. Draco got all emotional and cried inconsolably, explaining between sobs that his dragon had been controlling his body and that he had been mostly asleep at the moment. Mad eye didn't know how to deal with a crying Draco and had dumped him with the twins and Harry. That was a mistake, because both Weasleys harassed him for an entire hour, demanding an explanation for him upsetting the boy, while Potter tried to comfort the blond. That only served for Draco to cry even more. It was horrible.

After a couple of hours, and a bit of help from Hermione, the Slytherin finally calmed down and attempted to hide in his room. He felt that he would die of mortification as soon as he saw Moody, the twins, or Harry. Unfortunately, the Gryffindor golden-boy would not let him hide for long, and at super he went and dragged a kicking and screaming Draco to the kitchen with him.

Draco pouted during the meal. He hated this mood swings. They were perhaps the most annoying part of being pregnant. Besides, they made keeping his usual attitude quite difficult. The mood swings and his cravings had been the two things most likely to get him discovered. Hermione above all, was looking at him attentively. Draco was sure that the girl would have figured things out already if not for the fact that he was a male, and thus she would never expect a pregnancy from him.

By the end of super, the blond Slytherin felt more like himself again and was embarrassed. He was acting more and more like a girl everyday! He had already asked Moody if those changes were going to last. The man had assured him that once the pregnancy finished he would be back to normal. That had reassured him a bit, but had not solved the problem of how he was going to manage not being discovered.

The rest of the day was uneventful, but Harry never left Draco's side. He was constantly touching him and asking if he was fine. Draco finally resigned himself to his fate and let the Gryffindor worry for him.

At night Sally was back, barely. She hovered around his consciousness for long moments. Draco ignored her. He was very angry with her. The dragon receded to the deeps of his mind again, but he could feel her soothing energy enveloping him when he went to sleep.

* * *

A week passed by with strange notices of Aurors searching for clandestine activity around old pureblood manors. Some individuals that had attempted to escape had been discovered and executed. Everyone was pretty nervous and Harry despaired to find the last horcrux. The Gryffindor boy didn't know what else he could do. They couldn't find a clue of where else to look for and the area close to the house was being watched.

Besides that, everything was quiet in the house. If not for the war, life would have been comfy and happy for Harry. He only was worried about Draco. The boy had been acting strange for the last couple of months. Harry was sure that something was troubling the blond, but every time he asked, Draco assured him that he was perfectly fine. The Gryffindor boy didn't believe it. It was clear that the Slytherin was anxious over something. It irked Harry that Draco wouldn't trust him enough to tell him what was wrong. Sometimes the blond looked at him with such anguish in the eyes that he wanted to hug him and never let go. But never tell him the cause.

Harry had taken to keep track of Draco's activities. He had noticed his mood swings, but lately they had stabilized towards depression. The Gryffindor didn't like that. And he liked even less the fact that he didn't have time to give more attention to Draco. The boy clearly needed him and the stupid war wouldn't leave him a moment of respite.

The Gryffindor was quite surprised that his feelings for the blond had deepened so fast. He liked to be with him, and he didn't like the idea of them being parted. During his outings helping the Order he found himself restless and thinking constantly about Draco's well being. He was ready to accept that he had fallen hard for the Slytherin, and couldn't wait 'till the war was finished to explore his feelings with more calm. He wondered if Draco would still be agreeable to let Harry do a bit of experimentation. Perhaps then the blond would be willing to confide his troubles with him.

In the meantime Harry was stuck worrying. The priority of course was to solve the war. There were plans to infiltrate Voldemort's rule and the rebels were doing a fine job keeping the Death Eaters on their toes. It was clear that Riddle had not won yet. But they needed to find the last horcrux quickly or the situation would soon look very bad for the resistance.

The Gryffindor was thinking about it while he lounged in one of the library's sofas. Draco's head was on his lap and he was toying with the blond hair absentmindedly. Moody interrupted their relaxed moment to inform Harry that it was time for training. So, the Gryffindor boy apologized to the blond and went to their sparing room. Draco meanwhile grabbed a book and headed for the garden.

* * *

Draco was sitting on the grass, at the shadow of a lemon tree, looking idly at the repaired fountain that now adorned the centre of the garden. The book lay at his side, forgotten for the moment. He was busy ignoring Sally's attempts at reconciliation. The dragon was whining at him, saying that she was sorry, but it had been for Draco's own good. The boy was giving her the cold shoulder. He knew he couldn't stay angry with her for long, but that didn't mean that he had to make things easy for her. He had had a hard time because of her stunt. The least she could do was suffer his silence a little.

He wondered idly if Harry and the others had finished training. It had been more than an hour since he had gotten out. Remus may not be in headquarters, but Moody and McGonagall were pushing the Gryffindors to their limits. At least Mad Eye had deigned to tell them that they were "passable" fighters. They wanted the teenagers prepared for every eventuality.

Draco sighed, feeling Sally pushing against his mind to get his attention. He finally closed his eyes and started to talk with her. He didn't see the angry female figure approaching him until she yelled.

* * *

The floo in the study flared to life and out went an outraged Ginny, followed by a flustered Molly.

"Please Ginny, wait! Be reasonable!"

"No! I'm not in the wrong here mom! They are! Look at me! How can they say…?"

"Ginny, the mediwizard explained…"

"Fuck them! Fuck you all! It's clear that I'm way past the stage of abortion! None of you are going to convince me of… that nonsense!"

Molly had finally taken Ginny to see a mediwitch to one of St. Mungo's hideouts. Or rather, Augusta Longbottom had demanded that a professional checked the young witch or she was going to check the girl herself. No one messed with Mrs. Longbottom, so Ginny had been forced to go with her mother to the secret facility of St. Mungo's maternity wing.

It had been… well, actually relieving was the word Molly had had in mind, until the mediwitch had handed them the results. Ginny had gone absolutely ballistic and had demanded another opinion. After three hours of discussion, more tests and explanations from the healers, Mrs. Weasley had understood the situation clearly. Unfortunately her daughter had denied the results, saying that all of them were wrong and that she wasn't going to hear any foolish explanations.

The young witch had demanded to see Harry, and in the state of anguish that Molly was it didn't occur to her that it would be more trouble than it was worth. She had opened the floo connection without thinking and in a second the distraught girl was inside headquarters again.

Molly had barely managed to warn Ginny that the boys would probably be training, and that she was not going to be able to talk with Harry if she didn't calm down. So, the girl had been decided to wait, but that didn't make her any less furious. She got out her wand and hexed a chair. Molly was scandalized.

"Ginny Weasley! Stop right this instant! Listen…"

"No!"

"Ginny, you must understand…"

"What mother? That there's something wrong with me? I can't believe that you're ready to accept their shit!" She turned towards her mother and straightened, showing up her pregnant belly. "Look! I'm more than twenty weeks long! How can you think otherwise?"

"They are the experts, they have explained the situation Ginny, and they have the evidence…"

"Bullshit! They're wrong! And I'm not letting any of them near me! They're not getting away with this! My baby will be born, and he'll be a healthy and strong baby! You'll see!"

Molly wanted to pull at her hair in desperation. For the first time in her life she didn't know how to speak with one of her children.

"I don't understand you Ginny! Why? Why this unhealthy obsession? You were never like this! Why are you insisting so much to be with Harry? Why can't you accept that he doesn't want you in that way!"

"Harry is mine." Ginny hissed dangerously at her mother and her eyes turned fierce.

"Ginny, Harry is not a possession…"

"HE IS MINE! Since I was a little girl I always had to content myself with the leftovers! Do you have any idea of how it is mother? To have to share your room, and your toys and practically everything you have with your older brothers? I didn't have my own room until I was ten! I sometimes had to wear old clothes from my brothers and when that wasn't the case it was always second hand things. They were almost rags! I never had anything new! Our house was always a mess! Never quiet, never some resemblance of privacy! You say that Harry is not a possession, well I'm not your possession either. I'm fed up with all of you! Harry is different. He was always with me. In all the stories and books he was always the hero. I used to dream that he would come one day and will save me too. And guess what? He did it! My first year at Hogwarts, he came and fought with a Basilisk to save me! He's my hero, mine! And no one is going to take him away! I'm having this baby and Harry will see that he can't abandon me. I'm having my own family with him! One that lives in a decent house and can have a decent life! Away from you and all your conceited mediocrity!"

She turned and exited the study, leaving Molly flabbergasted. The woman soon broke into tears. She could not believe what she had heard. In all these years, she had never known that Ginny felt that way.

Ginny stomped down the hall and climbed down the stairs, aiming for the garden. She was furious beyond reason and needed fresh air. There was no one in the entire house that could understand her. Her family was all morals and stupid honour. Hypocrites! They would never achieve something worthy. The only one that had had any kind of future had been Percy, and now that he was dead there was no one left to whom she could confide her fears. She wanted a better life, a true family with the one she loved.

She got out of the house and stopped for a moment, looking around. The garden was very big, and now that it was been taken care of, it looked half way decent. The most prominent thing was the fountain. There were some trees here and there and an entire area dedicated to grow potions ingredients. Ginny soon spotted the blond figure sitting under a tree and her rage renewed. She walked decidedly towards the boy. Her wand was still in her hand, and the only thing in her mind was to make the bastard pay for trying to take Harry away from her. She was too distraught and not thinking at all. Soon she was in front of the blond Slytherin, with tears of anger streaming down her cheeks.

"You bastard! You should be the one sent away, not me! Harry should be with me!"

Malfoy opened his eyes startled and looked at the girl in surprise. Sally immediately jumped to attention and started to growl in his head.

"Wha-What are you doing here?"

"It's your fault! All of this is your fault! If you haven't come and surround Harry with your lies, he'll never have drifted away from me! You did all this!"

Draco tried to stand slowly. He didn't like the madness that he could see glittering in the girl's eyes. He looked at the wand at Ginny's hand and feared what she could do with it. It was taking all his willpower to keep Sally at bay and not just let her attack Weasley. He couldn't afford another blast of magic so soon. Ginny pointed her wand straight at the boy.

"I hate you Malfoy! I hate you! I want you out of our lives forever! I want my Harry back! R-rre…"

Draco was with his back pressed to the trunk of the tree. He noticed that Ginny's hand was shaking awfully. She was trying to form words, but her mouth wasn't cooperating. The blond looked in growing terror as she grew frustrated and her eyes narrowed in fury. Panicked, he let go of Sally just when the girl finally shouted a spell.

"Red… Redu… Sectum… Argh! Rictumsempra!"

He was too close, and the force of the spell, even when it was a harmless one, hit him right on. It took the breath out of him and his head banged in the tree bark. The world turned around him and he fell into darkness. The last thing he heard was Ginny screaming.


	20. The lie and the supposed truth

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Chapter 1****9. The lie and the supposed truth.**

Fred and George entered their room. They were exhausted. Moody and McGonagall together were absolutely formidable. Bill had been there also, but their git of a brother had refused to help them. Bastard. They were already planning a way to get back to him. George wanted to take a shower, so he gathered a change of clothes and asked Fred if he wanted to go too. His twin refused, saying that he preferred to take a nice nap before super. George walked out of the room, leaving his brother drinking water and pulling an armchair out of his way to sit on the windowsill for a bit.

Fred liked to open the window and sit with his legs hanging outside, feeling the wind. It was fun, and annoyed the shit out of his mother. Their room was on the third floor. Just below the attic. It had a wonderful view of the garden. They used to occupy a room on the front and entertain themselves seeing the city and the people passing by, but since Voldemort had taken power all that you could see was a dense mist. So, they had changed rooms to have some kind of decent view.

Fred opened the window and looked outside.

The first thing he heard was his sister's voice, obviously upset and yelling like a banshee. After the first moment of wonder about her presence in the house he narrowed his eyes at the scene that was taking place some meters below him. At first he didn't quite understand what was happening. Then he noticed that the girl had her wand out and was about to hex a terrified looking Malfoy.

Fred climbed on the windowsill, wand out, intent on stopping his sister, but he didn't have a chance. Everything happened so fast. Fred's eyes widened in surprise as he looked how his sister fired a hex. He blinked. He blinked again, not believing his eyes. He stared for a second before realizing that both Malfoy and Ginny were lying on the ground and neither was moving.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…"

He quickly turned around and ran outside the door, screaming at the top of his lungs for someone to go to the garden.

* * *

Fred managed to put the entire house on alarm. They all ran outside, and for a moment just stood there, looking in disbelief at the two unconscious teenagers. The immobility just lasted a few seconds. Dobby and Kreacher appeared and immediately fretted around Malfoy. That put everyone in action. Fleur ran to floo Madam Pomfrey. Harry, Moody, Hermione and the twins surrounded Draco, while McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley checked on Ginny. Bill at first looked from one group to the other, at a complete loose of what to do. He finally mentally slapped himself and ran to his sister and his frantic mother, who looked about to have a nervous breakdown.

Thankfully Minerva took control of the situation and ordered Bill to carry his sister to one of the unoccupied rooms. She helped Molly to get up, and after a quick look to confirm that Alastor had taken charge of Malfoy, she walked the distraught mother inside the house. The elves were sent for calming draught and any other potion that the mediwitch might need, and Harry, Hermione, and the twins were sent to wait in the drawing room-library with no excuses.

* * *

Remus got out of the floo with an uneasy feeling. He had been absent for too long and had only had general news of what had been happening with the boys' training once in a while. McGonagall had recently informed him about the destruction of You-know-who's artefacts and he wanted to check on Harry to see if he was ok. He didn't know the exact details but assumed that the situation could not have been easy.

He had been helping the rebels to save a few families from Death Eaters' attacks. The dragons that You-know-who had at his disposal were a big source of trouble. Remus didn't know how the bastard maniac had managed to control the dangerous creatures, but it surely was archaic magic. He wanted to check on the Black's library if there was a way to nullify it. If a rite was made to put the dragons under the Death Eaters' command surely there would be something they could do to break it.

The moment he put foot in the house, he could tell that something was wrong. He rushed upstairs and found all the teenagers, plus Bill and Fleur, worrying outside of Malfoy's and Harry's room. Hermione immediately spotted him and put the rest of the youngsters in alert.

"Professor Lupin! You're back!"

Everyone turned to look as Remus approached the group.

"What's happening here? Is everyone ok?"

Harry hugged his putative godfather while Bill answered.

"Apparently Ginny tried to hex Malfoy and the spell rebounded. They both are unconscious now."

"Ginny? What's she doing here?"

"Mom had taken her to St. Mungo's hidden facility. I don't know why they ended up here. Mom is pretty distressed."

Remus was confused. He was in the brink of asking why would Ginny need to go to one of St. Mungo's hide outs when he remembered. Oh shit! How could he have forgotten that? This was a mess! He needed to talk with Molly right away!

"Where are your mother and Poppy Bill?"

"In the room in front of the twins'. Madam Pomfrey is checking Malfoy."

"Ok. I'm going talk with Molly first. You all should wait somewhere else."

"But Remus…" Started Harry. Lupin looked sternly at the lot of them.

"No buts Harry please go. I promise that I'll talk with you in a moment. I only need to speak with Poppy and Molly first. I'll tell everything to you, I promise."

Harry sighed and the group walked unhappily to the library. Remus waited until he was sure that all of them were behind the door, and went looking for McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley.

Bill didn't stay long with the teenagers. He went to the kitchen for some coffee. He was feeling strangely agitated and didn't want to snap at the others without apparent cause. Fleur and Hermione sat on one of the couches and started talking about Ginny, and what could have happened to prompt Molly to bring the girl to Grimmauld place.

While they were at it, Fred pulled Harry and George apart and cast a privacy spell around them. Both boys looked at him intrigued.

"What's the matter Fred?" Said Harry. George didn't have to talk; the twins had long since mastered a kind of private communication between them. Fred was a bit nervous.

"Listen. There's something you should know. I-I didn't tell Madam Pomfrey exactly what I saw."

Harry narrowed his eyes, while George only nodded his head in comprehension. The black-haired boy didn't like to feel left out, so he snapped.

"What? Why? You know that Madam Pomfrey should know everything exactly as it happened. Some things could be important!"

The twins looked at each other and Fred continued talking.

"Listen. I really don't think that Pomfrey would believe me, but it wasn't Malfoy the one who repelled Ginny's hex."

Harry was confused. He tried not to gap at the twins and comprehend Fred's words.

"You mean someone was there with them? The elves?"

"No." Both twins sighed and George took over.

"Harry, have you noticed that Malfoy doesn't 'feel' quite the same?"

"We know it's a strange question, but really Harry, you had had more contact with him over the years. You can tell better than us."

Harry was a bit uncomfortable. He did think that something was definitely odd about the Draco Malfoy that was living with them. Sometimes he had really wondered what had happened to change him in such a visible manner. Hermione had pointed out to him many times how different the blond boy was from the prat that they had been used to. Harry didn't know how to explain it.

"Well… He is different. I suppose that I had not given it much thought because I like the change."

"We all like the change, believe me."

"Except our sister."

"But let's ignore that for now…"

"Have you noticed something else lately?"

"Something perhaps special?"

Harry thought about the times he had spent with the blond over the last months and he couldn't help but smile. To be with him made Harry feel good. Relaxed in a sort of way. It was strange. Harry frowned as he rationalized it. He had thought it was attraction, but… well… Actually he had never felt like that before, with anyone.

"Yes, I think so. But I thought it was… you know… me kind of liking him in another way."

"Oh, well that is probably confusing you."

"Yes, we had seen you both, and you'll probably wouldn't sense anything wrong about Malfoy now."

Both twins grinned like idiots and Harry blushed in embarrassment. He decided that they were getting way out of track.

"Look, this is not making sense. What does this have to do with Draco not attacking Ginny?"

"Oh yeah! Sorry. Well, you see, we have a theory."

"We think that Malfoy has something with him."

Harry blinked, completely baffled.

"What?"

"He's not alone Harry. I think that when you picked him up, something came following him."

Harry shook his head and sighed.

"Could you please explain, because I swear that I'm not following you guys."

"Ok, listen. When I spotted Ginny yelling her brains out at Malfoy and with her wand ready, my intention was to stop her. I climbed on the windowsill and was ready to hex her myself, but… well, she was faster than me. Her spell actually hit Malfoy, but it didn't rebound. I… well… there was suddenly something between Ginny and Malfoy. It looked like a dragon. It wasn't corporeal; it was like… like some kind of ghost! Ginny's spell went through it and then it attacked her!"

Now Harry did gape at Fred. A long forgotten memory took form in his mind. He remembered Draco lazing about in the garden. Draco lying on the grass, his head resting over a long neck.

"That's… impossible."

"I know, believe me, I was shocked. And I can't tell Madam Pomfrey that a dragon attacked Ginny! I'll be in a St. Mungo's underground facility faster than a snitch!"

"The… dragon then… did it?"

"Yes! Ginny fired the spell when it was already in front of her, and it roared and hit her! With the head! It sent her flying some meters… well; you saw that she landed among the bushes. Then it disappeared!"

Harry bit his lip and looked around nervously. Hermione and Fleur were still on the couch. No adults yet.

"How's that possible? I mean… I think I know what you saw…"

"Have you seen it too?" Asked George excitedly.

"Well, I think so. Maybe once."

"Are you having the dreams too? About multicoloured dragons?" Asked Fred.

Harry gaped at them. How had they known?

"Yes! Yes… I mean… you too?"

"The thing I saw Harry, I swear it is exactly like one of them! It has to be! I've never seen something like those dragons! We asked Charlie, but he says that they don't exist!"

"You asked Charlie? When?"

"Well, we had been having those dreams for sometime now."

"Charlie used to have them too. He told us last year. That's why he decided to work with Dragons in the first place."

"Our dreams have been more frequent since Malfoy arrived."

Harry couldn't help but sigh in relief. At least he was not crazy; someone other was having the strange dreams too. But that didn't solve their little mystery.

"How can you know that this… dragon or whatever it is, came with Draco?"

"We have seen it with him."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, mostly when Malfoy is asleep somewhere."

"It kind a curls around him…"

"Sometimes it looks weird because he's on an armchair or the bed…"

"And the furniture can be seen through it!"

Harry was baffled. The twins had seen the mysterious creature more times than he! How could they have not talked about it before?

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Well, to be frank, you're the first person since Charlie that we can talk about it with."

"We mean it literally Harry. Once we tried to tell mom…

"But when we were in front of her we had completely forgotten what we were supposed to tell her."

Harry put his hand on the back of his head. He remembered that he had talked about the strange apparition with Draco. He had had no troubles doing it. Granted, that had been the only time he had talked with anyone about the creature and his dreams. And the blond had been… pretty anxious. What had he said to Harry? Oh, yeah, that the dragons were ghosts. That didn't sound right for some reason.

Fred noticed his concentrated frown and was about to ask what was it, when he looked at Hermione approaching them. He quickly cancelled the privacy spell that surrounded them and located Fleur talking with his brother near the door. Hermione looked at the three of them before beginning to talk.

"Guys, Bill says that everyone is in the study of the second floor. I think they're discussing what to tell us."

Harry immediately moved. All thoughts of dragons, and weird dreams, forgotten for the moment. He was tired to be kept in the dark. He was not going to tolerate it anymore. He was not about to let the adults concoct another lie. He walked decidedly towards the hall and the stairs, followed by the rest of the teenagers. Bill tried to stop him, but he also wanted to know what was happening. It irked the older Weasley son the fact that his mother was treating him as if he was a child. So, he and Fleur joined the entourage.

The door to the study was warded, but it only took Bill a few moments to break through it. Harry hardly waited for it to be safe to push the door open and stride inside. He interrupted what seemed to be a heated discussion between McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley. Remus was sitting in an armchair, not looking happy at all and Madam Pomfrey looked doubtful. Moody was nowhere in sight. The adults looked towards the door at the interruption and Molly became all flustered and started to walk to them.

"Children! What are you doing here?"

Harry stopped her with a glare that left the elder witch shocked.

"First, we are not children anymore. And second, this is my house and I think I'm entitled to know what's going on inside it! I'm sorry Mrs. Weasley, but I'm tired of all the secrecy! You all are always expecting me to trust you, but how I'm supposed to trust you if you apparently don't trust me? You are always complaining of my recklessness and my jumping into danger, well, maybe I wouldn't do it so much if I knew where I'm jumping in the first place!"

Remus sighed and looked at Molly sadly. The whole situation was getting ridiculous. He had initially agreed to not inform the teenagers, but now… Harry had the right to know, they couldn't keep him misinformed. Harry was legally an adult and he should be the one taking decisions that directly affected him. Besides, it was also unfair for Malfoy. The poor boy had been really scared when he had regained his senses. He needed support, and Remus doubted that any of the adults would be much help. He rather suspected that the teenagers had a better understanding of the blond Slytherin by now.

"Please sit down all of you. This is going to take some time."

Bill conjured a coach for him and Fleur; the twins sat on the mahogany desk that adorned the studio and Hermione and Harry took a couple of armchairs. Lupin continued once everyone was settled.

"I think that Harry's right. In fact, I think that this situation could have been easily avoided. I'm sorry that I had not talked sooner."

Harry frowned at hearing that, and looked at the rest of the adults. McGonagall was pressing his lips, but it was evident that it was not the werewolf she was pissed at.

"No one blames you for that Remus. And I think that you're right. We should have acted the moment we knew about the boy's condition…!"

"Minerva!" Mrs. Weasley looked at her pleadingly. McGonagall huffed.

"Oh for Merlin's sake Molly! I don't know what's gotten into you and Alastor!"

"Minerva, please. There was no way of knowing that it would come to this." Said Madam Pomfrey, trying to placate the upset witch. Remus sighed again.

"Look, this situation is getting out of control, and it shouldn't. I mean… this is a mess! We're stressing ourselves unnecessarily!"

Molly pressed his lips tightly together, and looked at Harry and the rest of the teenagers with tears in her eyes. Hermione took pity on her.

"Perhaps you could start with why Ginny was here?" She said.

Harry felt his anger rising. Ginny should not have been there at all! The twins looked nervously at their mother, knowing that she was very upset already and talking about Ginny might get her into a crying fit. Surprisingly, it was apparently easier for the Weasley matron to talk about the reason that had pushed her to bring her daughter to the house, than it was talking about what was exactly wrong with Malfoy.

"Oh, well. That is something you all have a right to know. You see, I was not thinking straight at the moment. But I considered that she should be here to tell you in person."

Harry didn't actually care about whatever Ginny might have to say, but Hermione apparently did. All of them knew about the ultimatum that Mrs. Longbottom had delivered the girl and that Molly was supposed to take her to a mediwizard. Hermione was the only one of the teenagers that was concerned about the girl's health, though not for the witch's sake. Even when Ginny had done something terrible, Hermione thought that the poor baby deserved to be cared for. It hadn't asked to be conceived in such a horrible way.

"What happened Mrs. Weasley? Did she… miscarried?" Said Hermione, a bit nervous. It was the only conclusion she could reach, given Molly's troubled behaviour. Harry tried to reign on his anger and at least look sympathetic. He may not care about Ginny, but he had tried to make his mind that he could at least care for the child's necessities, only for Mrs. Weasley's sake.

"Well… It's complicated. You see, there never was any danger… there was no baby…"

"What?" Harry straightened on his seat. All his anger returning at once. "She… lied to us?"

Hermione was really pale. She couldn't believe it. She didn't accept that Ginny could lie or play with something like that. Mrs. Weasley shook her head and tried to explain.

"No! Not exactly. Ginny was sure of her pregnancy. She did brew the potion and took all kind of precautions for a conception to happen…" Molly took a deep breath and tried to put her ideas in order. Hermione was already frowning.

"But, it didn't?"

"Not only it didn't. She botched the potion and it did the exact opposite effect to what she was expecting. Ginny has just made herself sterile."

The teenagers gaped at her. It was preposterous. Bill was the first one to recover.

"But, how could that be? She looked pretty much pregnant to me when I carried her to the room!"

"And Mrs. Longbottom surely would have noticed something before now. Ginny has been living with her!" Said Hermione. Molly sighed.

"Yes, I know, Ginny has been showing all the symptoms and everything. But the fact is that there is no baby inside her womb, even when it has grown to accommodate one. The mediwizard explained the situation to us. They said that Ginny has a… a psi… pse… something…"

"Pseudocyesis! Psychological or false pregnancy! Of course!" Said Hermione triumphant. "It's very rare, but it shows the power of mind-suggestion. One of my aunts suffered from it when I was six. It usually results from a strong desire or need for motherhood. The woman presents all the signs of a genuine pregnancy. Some women report sensations of fetal movements, and even had the contractions of a birthing process. It's really hard to convince them that there is no actual baby to be born."

Gaping at Hermione was useless at that point, so everyone settled for been quietly awed.

"And no one noticed anything?" Said Harry, wavering between anger and incredulity. To everyone's surprise it was Remus who answered.

"I'm sorry Harry. I had my suspicions, but I didn't find the opportunity to talk about them with anyone before the attack to the Ministry happened, and then everything was pushed to the back in favour of the war."

"But, why couldn't you tell for sure Remus?" Asked Hermione, frowning. "You're a werewolf and have very good smell. Surely your instinct couldn't be fooled." The girl wasn't so sure about that. She looked at Harry and regretted to have talked. The boy was working his way into a rage. Lupin sighed and looked troubled.

"Yeah, well. There was a certain distraction that I was not prepared to deal with. You see…"

"Remus, we should really wait for Alastor for this." Said Molly, wriggling her hands in her robes and looking teary eyed. Harry had had enough.

"Listen Mrs. Weasley, I know that you worry about us, but this is really important and I want to know everything that's happening now! I will not be having any more accidents that could have been prevented! It's stupid and dangerous!"

"But…"

"Harry is an adult now Molly. He is entitled to his own decisions. Besides, he's going to know sooner or later."

The Weasley matron looked as if she would prefer it to be later. Much, much later. She looked helplessly at Madam Pomfrey.

"Still, maybe it's better if Alastor is here too…"

McGonagall bristled. She had also had enough.

"I don't see the need! He knows as much as we do, and I'm not letting him side with you again! Really! You both have been unreasonable! The sooner everyone in this house is aware of the situation the better!"

Hermione got curious then. She just had to ask.

"Where is professor Moody?"

Before anyone could answer Harry looked at her and snapped.

"Please! I could care less where he is right now! Can we get to the bloody point?"

Remus sighed and tried to calm Harry a bit.

"Please Harry. It actually has much to do with what we have to say. Moody is with Malfoy right now."

Harry paused, immediately putting himself on guard.

"Why?" He asked warily. The adults looked at each other and apparently came to the tacit agreement that Lupin was the one to explain.

"You see, Malfoy is in a delicate condition and it's taking a great toll on his magic. Alastor and the house-elves are technically infusing some of their magic into Malfoy's core to strengthen it. Poppy wanted to assist, but Alastor insisted on doing it alone. He knows some special techniques to do it in the best way possible. We as well as you are waiting for him to finish."

That did nothing to appease Harry's anger; it only added worry to it. The twins looked unhappily at each other and Hermione paled. It was her the one to comment on the news.

"But, that's pretty dangerous! What is Malfoy's condition exactly? I really doubt it can be so bad that he needs a magical infusion! He has been having some strange changes of mood but certainly nothing life threatening!"

Remus bit his lip. They should have said something before! This was not going to be easy.

"Well, I should start from the beginning. When Malfoy arrived, and we interrogated him, we discovered that in addition to being obliviated his magic was a bit unstable. Poppy dismissed that fact because the boy is reaching the age in which he should acquire his full magical potential. Also, he had just gone through a very bad experience, so the instability and the weird peaks of magic were somewhat expected; even the reaction that he had when Ginny first hexed him was something not unheard of. But Poppy started to get worried then. She tried to do a more thorough check at the moment, but Moody convinced her that it was not necessary. Then you found him almost passing out on the kitchen table and… Well, Pomfrey was very pissed off. She berated herself and all of us for having dismissed the boy's problem so easily. You see, whoever obliviated Malfoy, also did other things to him."

Harry was absolutely not liking the way this retelling of things was going. In fact, he was barely controlling his magic from going berserk. All this months and no one had said anything! And it looked like it was going to get worse.

"What kind of things?" Asked one of the twins while Harry tried to not loose his temper. Madam Pomfrey answered then.

"It is really unusual. There was some kind of block on Mr. Malfoy's magic. But the main problem was the draining, and it came from within him. I don't know where Severus Snape took the boy after they fled Hogwarts, but I swear that if I ever find out that he knew about this I'm going to kill him myself!"

Ok. Now Harry was scared. The mediwitch collected herself and continued before anyone had the chance to say anything.

"I'm sorry. Anyway, it's hard to explain. The point is that the boy was used as some kind of experimental subject, so to speak."

The teenagers were horrified when they understood the implications of that statement. Harry's anger suddenly changed targets. Severus Snape was going to be a very sorry man when the boy found him.

"What did they do to him?" Asked Bill, who was more collected than the rest. Madam Pomfrey sighed, and decided to be blunt.

"They changed his internal anatomy. Not all the organs, mind you, they only added a few more. Mr. Malfoy is now, for all intents and purposes, a hermaphrodite."

There was a second of stunned confusion before comprehension slowly entered the teenagers' minds. Bill and Fleur were just shocked, but the others quickly started to feel sick. Suddenly Hermione widened her eyes in horror and put a hand over her mouth. Everything was crystal clear to her now.

"Oh my God. Oh my God! You… You can't tell me that he… that he is… Oh God, he is!"

The mediwitch nodded solemnly and tears escaped Hermione's eyes.

"But how? I meant, it's wrong! He's not ready for that; he's not supposed to ever be ready for that!"

"Stop! What are you talking about? What is happening to Draco?"

Harry was upset. It was clear that Hermione had quickly put things neatly together and understood the situation, consequences, and foreboding future, all in one breath. But the rest of them that were not Hermione still needed a bit of clarification. Remus sighed. He seemed to be doing a lot of that.

"Harry, Malfoy now possesses both reproductive organs. Male and female. Both of them complete and entirely functional."

Fleur gasped at that moment and Bill closed his eyes painfully. The twins were frowning, and Harry had the beginning of a thought crossing his mind that he was sure as hell that he didn't want to acknowledge. He continued to look at Remus, waiting for a bit more.

"His magic has been quite awkward because it's fighting to accommodate the boy's body. He needed the practice to somehow stabilize it. The day you found him almost passing out on the kitchen table his magic was practically turning against him. It was forcing his body to accommodate an internal shape that it shouldn't have. That stunt he pulled destroying the artefacts could have really killed him. All his magic is concentrating on keeping his body somewhat stable. It's very stressful for his core, it has not stabilized and the block is not going to allow it. These last months had been even more demanding."

Harry bit his lower lip and looked around him. Hermione was nodding at every one of Remus' words, with tears in her eyes. The twins were scowling, evidently with an idea in mind that they didn't like very much. The rest were looking at him expectantly. He knew he was missing something really important, but he refused to accept the thought that had popped in his mind and was slowly taking shape.

"Ok. I think I get the picture, but… there's something more right? The really bad news?"

Remus sighed. He had expected to not have to say it aloud. It still felt so surreal to him. Sometimes he really wished that all the teenagers were like Hermione.

"Yes, there's something more. Harry, Malfoy is pregnant."

Harry blinked and then just stared at Remus. He didn't want to believe it. That must be wrong.

"It's not funny Rems."

Lupin let out a nervous chuckle and his hands went through his hair.

"Merlin Harry. I wish it was a joke."

"But… but that's…"

"Impossible, yeah. We also thought it was. That was why we didn't think it necessary to tell you all at first. Not even to him."

The twins looked up at that.

"You mean he didn't know?"

"Well, he had been obliviated, he didn't remember where he had been or what had been done to him. He realized that something was very wrong when Harry took him under the lust potion's influence, but Harry had been too far-gone to notice anything and Malfoy imagined that he would get into a lot of trouble if he mentioned it. And well, he certainly wasn't expecting a pregnancy. He had no idea that he was with child until Madam Pomfrey checked him up when Ginny confessed her… activities."

"But… he's not showing…" Said Bill.

"He has a glamour on him. Nothing complicated, Moody did it. He seems to be the only one who can cast spells on the boy without them rebounding." Said McGonagall.

Harry stood up and started to pace agitatedly. His head was a turmoil of confusion and it seemed that it was all he was capable to feel at the moment. However, the anger was still there, coiling underneath the confusing thoughts and gaining strength quickly. Hermione looked at him worriedly, but he didn't notice. He bit his right fist nervously, trying to force his brain to work and make sense of the information it had been given. He finally started to talk.

"Why no one said anything? I mean, this obviously concerns me! And what about Draco? Why didn't he talk? Did you even stopped to think that it may be a good idea to ask us if we wanted to have a baby?"

"Harry, we told him to keep it down, there was nothing that could be done about it…" Started Molly. Harry turned to her and yelled.

"Bull shit! If you people had told us about this sooner, Madam Pomfrey would have checked Draco the very day I drank the firewhiskey! Not more than a month later!"

"Harry, calm down!" Said Remus, standing and putting himself between Mrs. Weasley and his cub. "I agree that we should have said something, but even if you and Malfoy knew, we wouldn't be able to do anything about the pregnancy."

"Why not?" Asked Hermione, trying to keep Harry from continuing screaming. "There must be some kind of potion like the pill of the day after, to prevent implantation."

Madam Pomfrey sighed then and answered.

"Look, the magical core of Mr. Malfoy is deeply compromised. His magic has been drained since before the pregnancy. And this seems to be connected with his changes. His magic is fighting hard to keep his body the way it is right now. Any interference with that, and the boy's core would drain itself dry trying to keep those changes. It's like a protection charm that his 'womb' has developed on its own, and it can kill the boy if messed with."

Harry couldn't believe it. They had known all this and hadn't done anything? He was barely keeping check of his magic now, and he was a step away from not caring.

"I'm really sorry cub. I should have told you sooner. I just didn't want to believe it myself, and then… well, I guess war took precedence. I shouldn't have let the situation get this bad. I'm sorry."

It was too little, too late as far as Harry was concerned and he huffed in annoyance.

"So, what you're basically telling me is that you decided that I would be better not knowing about MY child, and that Draco should shoulder the problem alone! What's wrong with you people? You were perfectly happy letting me believe that Ginny was having a baby for months and you didn't care to let me know about a REAL ONE?"

"Harry, please. We didn't know about Ginny's fake pregnancy, and you had your plate full, you didn't need another worry…"

"Fuck it! You didn't know about Ginny because you didn't have the guts to make her go to the mediwizard! If not for Mrs. Longbottom you'll still believe she was pregnant and I will still be ignorant about my actual obligation with Draco! What were you going to do when the baby was born? Glamour him or her invisible? Pretend that Draco had gotten a child out of nowhere? What were you going to fucking do with it?"

The furniture was starting to shake. Harry was feeling deeply betrayed. How can he trust this people? He was tired of everyone assuming that they knew what was best for him. Dumbledore had done enough already. He was not going to stand by and let everyone rule his life!

Remus tried to calm Harry down; they could not afford that the boy loose control of his magic. At that moment, Moody opened the door and with a glance knew that everyone was informed of the modified version of the story. He grumped in annoyance. If they didn't need Potter to help Malfoy to stabilize his magic, he would have moved the blond ages ago. As it was, it looked like Harry was ready to pick a fight with him, if the way the boy was glaring at him was any indication. Fortunately Madam Pomfrey spoke first, giving the Gryffindor boy more time to collect himself and to think on what he was intending to do.

"Alastor, how's the boy?"

"He's fine. No danger for now. The elves are a bit tired, I would recommend not asking too much of them for a couple of days."

"Good. I'll just check on him a last time and then I'll go for a few things and return."

Minerva and Alastor scowled at the mediwitch, but Remus sighed in relief and Molly smiled.

"Oh Poppy, are you going to stay then?"

"Yes, it's clear that there could be an emergency at any time. It will be much better if I stay near by. If Harry agrees of course."

The boy had gotten his temper somewhat in control again with Hermione's help, and nodded at the mediwitch.

"Sure. Thank you Madam Pomfrey." Harry was also asking himself why the mediwitch had not moved in with them sooner. He had his answer when Alastor huffed unhappily.

"I do not think it's necessary. The boy's stable and only needs to follow instructions."

"Maybe Alastor, but this is the second near fatal accident this boy had had. May I remind you that a miscarriage is not the only danger here? I don't see the point in offering the boy sanctuary if we don't care whether he lives of dies!"

Moody shrugged. He didn't like the situation at all. The dragon-bond was making him feel territorial and to want to keep everyone away from the boy. He hoped that the pull on his magic lessened soon or he was going to be in trouble. Madam Pomfrey left, and Harry just barely waited to get his breathing under control before facing Mad Eye.

"I was not aware that I had given any of you permission to take decisions for me. Much less without even consulting me!"

Alastor made a disgusted face before answering.

"You have enough problems already young man. This is certainly no time for you to be worrying about paternity. And seeing how you reacted to the Weasley girl been pregnant, what a Slytherin boy could possibly have expected?"

"How could you know? The situation with Ginny was very different! Malfoy didn't bring this on himself! He didn't even know that this could happen! He's a victim here, and no body seems to care about how wronged he actually was!"

Moody stood arrogantly in front of the boy. What could he know? This was a necessity and no one had the right to interfere! Somewhere in his mind he was aware that he was starting to act irrationally but at the moment he didn't care. He just wanted to take out his frustration on someone.

"You'll know everything about been the wronged party, won't you boy? How do you imagine he would have felt when he realized there was something wrong with him? Or when someone told him that he was to have a child he didn't need or want from the person that bedded him because he was the only available option?"

There. A bit of guilt would shut the boy up. It was somewhat disconcerting to see Harry's colour drain off his face. But the teenager said nothing. He turned around and walked to the door. Moody felt oddly satisfied. Only he had miscalculated, and before the Gryffindor boy had opened the door to get out, Remus had grabbed Alastor's arm and turned him around, pretty furious.

"What the hell's your problem Moody?"

Harry didn't hear the rest of the argument. He exited the study, and walked down the hall and the stairs, on the way to his room.


	21. The Talk

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Author's note:** Thank you to all who has reviewed this so far, and thanks to TouchoftheWind for your grammar advice. It is very much appreciated.

**Chapter 20. The Talk.**

Harry walked the halls of the house feeling numb inside. Perhaps Moody was right. Maybe Malfoy hadn't wanted him to know. Who would want to have the person who forced them close by? Who would want to have that very person's child? He certainly had been trying to deny any responsibility for Ginny's baby. Why wouldn't Malfoy feel the same? But then, why the blond tolerated him? They had been sharing the same room. And Draco had always looked pretty relaxed around Harry. Except on those occasions that the Gryffindor asked if something was wrong. Well, now he knew what was the problem. But there had been nothing on the Slytherin's behaviour that indicated that he didn't want to be with Harry. Perhaps they had ordered the blond to put up with him for the sake of appearances? Harry doubted that Malfoy would agree to that.

He stood in front of the door to his and Draco's room and waited for Madam Pomfrey. He wasn't going to go around making crazy assumptions. This time he was going to get things clear. No more half-truths or misunderstandings.

He didn't wait long. The mediwitch was out in a few moments. She told Harry to let the other boy rest and then she went to the parlour to floo away, promising to return shortly.

Harry sighed and looked at the door resentfully. Why all the weird things always happened to him? Sometimes he wanted to scream for the world to just leave him be. Alas, there was no point in delaying this talk. He needed to know Draco's side of the story. He was not going to trust the adult's word anymore. He and Draco were the ones affected by this and they were the ones that needed to make agreements.

He had a fleeting moment of panic when he thought about what he would have done if Ginny had approached him with the same intentions he was now trying to speak to Draco. He pushed the thought out of his mind. The situation was different. He was not Ginny and he hadn't done what she did. He was immensely grateful that she was not having any child after all. He knew that even if he hadn't wanted to be with her, a child would be forever a bond between the two. Now he was truly over with her, and thankfully there was nothing she could hold over him. This was about he and Malfoy only. He took a deep breath and entered the room.

It was semi-dark inside. The curtains were pulled over the window and only a bedside lamp was on. Harry spotted Crookshanks curled on the divan and scowled at it. The cat had taken to be near Draco lately. On the last months he had even noticed Hedwing and Pig resting on their windowsill from time to time, even when they had their perch in a small owlery in the garden. It was odd. Harry decided to ignore the feline and closed the door, warding it to not be interrupted.

The blond boy was in his bed, lying on his left side and curled under the covers, facing the window. Harry walked towards him and sat at the end of the bed. He didn't dare to touch the boy or even look at him. Somehow he knew he was awake, but he didn't know what to say. How should he start?

Draco was concentrating on keeping his breath under control. In. Out. In. Out. He felt tired, scared and very alone at the moment. Madam Pomfrey had informed him of the little reunion the household had had, and had said that everyone now knew everything about his condition. Everything. Ha! She didn't know the beginning of it.

He wasn't expecting that Harry would want to talk to him, but he supposed it made sense. Surely the boy wanted some sort of explanation. Knowing Harry, he would not be satisfied with whatever the adults had told him. Draco was waiting for the Gryffindor to say something, perhaps some scatting words, but as the moments passed by with no indication of Potter doing anything but sit at the end of the bed, Draco started to get angry. Why couldn't the git simply get it over with? Draco was about to yell in frustration when finally the other boy spoke.

"Were you going to ever tell me?"

Draco was confused for a moment, but he quickly understood what he was been asked. He sighed and answered quietly.

"Why would you have wanted me to do so?"

"Why? Well, I certainly would want to know that I have a child!"

"Really? You didn't look so thrilled when Weasley…"

"Please don't mention her! I know how I reacted; I doubt anyone would have expected me to act all chummy and pleased with the news! But this is different!"

Draco closed his eyes. He was very tempted to ask why it was different, but he didn't dare. He didn't want to fight. He only wanted Harry to pass sentence on him and be done with it. He had always known that he would have to take care of his child alone anyway. He heard Harry sighing and felt him getting up the bed. He heard his steps going back and forth somewhere at his back. He was pacing.

"What I want to know is… if you wanted to tell me. I mean, Mrs. Weasley said that they told you not to, but, did you want me to know?"

Harry sounded almost desperate, and Draco didn't know what the boy was expecting. But he was so tired of this. So tired of always be lying, to be constantly worrying about what the others would say or do. He didn't have the will to do it anymore.

"I suppose. But, well how could I explain…? This isn't something that happens everyday. I mean, I'm a boy. I'm not supposed to get pregnant. I couldn't tell you and then have no explanation at all of how it happened. Then Weasley came and you were so upset and… I just was scared. I didn't want to upset you more."

Harry sighed in frustration. Why all everyone seemed to think about was to avoid upsetting him? Was he not trustworthy at all? He sat on the bed, next to Malfoy this time, and put his head on his hands. He thought about the other boy's words and everything that had happened, and how murderous he should have looked like when Ginny had announced to everyone her supposed pregnancy… Something was not clicking in place. Remus had say that Draco hadn't known until… Harry looked at the face, semi-covered by the blankets.

"How long have you known?"

Draco groaned painfully. Something in the stories was not consistent, right? It was bound to happen sooner or later. Fuck them all! Draco was fed up with going along with their half-truths. He was not going to play anymore! They could not kill him anyway; they still needed him. He refused to be tiptoeing around Harry, scared of what the boy should and shouldn't know! It was driving him nuts!

"I've always known. It was hard to miss really."

Harry frowned in confusion.

"But… Remus said they didn't tell you about your changes, and that you didn't remember what had happened with the Death Eaters."

Draco sighed. He put the covers aside and tried to sit up. Harry stood instantly and helped him. He also pulled open the curtains, allowing more light into the room. Draco nodded his gratitude and reclined a bit on the pillows. Harry couldn't help but to see downwards. The covers hid the bundle of the blonde's belly, and there was still the glamour, whatever changes the blond's body had suffered, they weren't noticeable. Draco's voice returned him to the present.

"Look Harry, whatever they told you… It's not exactly truth."

Harry was just starting to sit again at the bedside and he almost fell over. He looked with wide eyes at the blond, who bit his lip.

"But it's not their fault. They don't know what really happened."

"And you know." Said Harry, willing himself to stay calm and listen to all that Draco had to say before lashing out in anger. The blond nodded and averted his eyes.

"Well, it's my body… The thing is… I know what happened and why, but I can't explain it."

"But Moody said you were obliviated and that you didn't know what the Death Eaters did to you."

"Yeah, well, you see this… change… When you found me I was normal, the change was here… and it was before you drank the lust potion, so I was pretty aware of what could happen."

Harry frowned, trying to understand the sequence of events.

"You knew you could get pregnant? Draco why didn't you say anything?"

"I tried to! I tried to find a way to explain and I swear I was going to tell you! But I couldn't! I can't explain!"

"You mean you didn't find the words to talk with me?" Said Harry, feeling somewhat saddened, but Draco's answer surprised him.

"No, I mean it literally! I can't talk about it! I was told not to, but even before that, I couldn't speak of it! It's… weird. When I tried to tell you, I had a whole plan made, I had thought very carefully of what words I would use and even how I was going to handle you if you got mad at me, but the moment I started speaking all my words changed! It was as if I was thinking one thing, but my mouth decided to tell another. It was very frustrating!"

Draco had started to gesticulate with his hands in agitation. Harry panicked and moved closer to him, taking his hands and looking into watery gray eyes.

"Hey. It's ok Draco. I'm not mad at you, I promise." He put away a lock of Malfoy's hair and the blond sobbed.

"But you're going to be when you find out, I'm really sorry I can't tell you, you really should know about all this! I can't… mph!"

Harry put his hand on the blonde's mouth and looked directly into his eyes.

"Tell me, did you in any way provoked all this?"

Draco shook his head no. He had not provoked it; he just hadn't been given any choice in the matter.

"Then there is no reason I should be mad at you, you see?"

The Slytherin whimpered, not really convinced about that, but he was much calmer when Harry retired his hand. The Gryffindor hugged the still sobbing boy and even rocked him a bit. His mind was working furiously trying to remember some occasion where Malfoy had looked particularly troubled or anguished when speaking. It cost him some effort, but he finally remembered the day, some months ago, when he had discovered Draco in the garden with the… thing all around him. They had talked about it later. Or tried to. Then he remembered his most recent conversation with the twins. A suspicion formed in his mind.

"Draco, all of this perhaps has something to do with the dragons?"

The blond went very still in Harry's arms. He fearfully asked.

"What dragons?"

"You know, the ones I had been dreaming about. I told you about them once. They are multicoloured, almost eerie. You told me they were said to be ghosts."

Draco straightened and separated from the black haired boy a bit, in a way that they ended up sitting one in front of the other. He looked at Harry with horror on his face. The Gryffindor narrowed his eyes.

"You see these dragons too don't you? Somehow your situation has something to do with them. Isn't it?"

The blond paled dramatically. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out of it. He gulped and moved his jaw around a few times. He finally lowered his eyes and spoke in a low voice that was almost a hiss.

"Those dragons don't exist."

Harry took the blonde's chin and lifted his face. The boy was terrified. Harry was thinking hard about the situation.

"You're under some kind of curse, right? And it has to do with those creatures."

Draco bit his lips and whimpered, he couldn't move a muscle. Harry narrowed his eyes again.

"Voldemort did it? Was it in place when you were with the Death Eaters?"

Draco could breathe more freely now. He was able to answer those questions.

"Well, the Dark Lord was the cause of the curse. But it was in place years before I even attended Hogwarts. In a way all this situation is his fault."

Harry huffed and shook his head in an incredulous gesture.

"I don't know why I'm surprised. Every weird thing that happens in my life is somehow connected to that psycho. I'm going to really enjoy the day of his death. I'll even give a press conference just for the occasion, really."

Draco relaxed somewhat and he put his hands over his belly, dragging Harry's attention to it. The Gryffindor looked at it and reached out with his hand.

"May I?"

Draco pressed his lips together but nodded and let Harry touch his glamoured stomach. The magic tingled and he could feel that the baby was happy. It was a weird feeling to have, but he smiled anyway. Harry sighed and asked.

"Is there someway to break the curse? Maybe we can find something in the dark magic books."

"No. As far as I know there's no way to break it… But it has a condition, there's something that should happen and then I will be able to talk with you about it."

Harry looked at Malfoy's face again with questioning eyes.

"Which is?"

Draco sighed. He was really talking more than he should. He couldn't answer that question directly.

"Look, it's kind 'a complicated. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to talk about it when the baby's born."

Harry was pensive.

"And if you aren't?"

The blond chuckled sarcastically and shrugged.

"Then it won't really matter because I'll be dead." He really didn't think he could survive either loosing his child or another pregnancy, and anyway he wouldn't want to live knowing that magic had its days counted. Harry took him by the arms and glared at him, saying in a serious voice.

"Don't you ever say that. I'll never forgive you if you die on me Draco."

The blond was perplexed and could only nod. Harry pulled him in a strong embrace and then made him partially lay on the pillows again. He looked at his middle in wonder, imagining how it'd look without the glamour. He still couldn't believe that the adults had hidden this from him. Draco followed his line of vision and felt suddenly apprehensive.

"Harry? I know that this isn't an easy situation. It was never my intention to ask you for anything. I know you want a real family, a wife and kids, and… well, this is not what you had in mind. I'm not going to get into your life, I just… I…"

"What are you saying Draco?"

Harry took Draco's hands in his, and the boy gulped. He felt fearful and was not sure of what the Gryffindor wanted to do about his child, or what he may decide once he knew the entire story. No one had taken the time to make Harry aware of the fact that, by law, he had the right to decide the fate of any children he fathered. Obviously Mrs. Weasley hadn't wanted to put him into even more conflict, but surely someone would say something about it sooner or later. Draco just wanted one thing, and it will be all he'd ever ask of the other boy.

"I-I'm not what you want, I know it, and if you don't want to see me anymore when all of this is finished and you know the truth, I'll understand. You'll find someone you love to do your life, you have a right to it. Just, please, if I survive this let me keep my child, my baby is all I have now, I swear I'll never bother you with anything, please."

Harry stared at the blonde's tearful face for a moment, convincing himself that he had heard right. Then he took the other boy's head by the sides, a little more forcibly than he had intended. Draco winced and closed his eyes. Harry loosened his hold a little but didn't let go of it. He was unsure if he should feel horrified or angry, so he settled for being upset.

"Draco, look at me."

The blond opened his eyes fearfully, and started to babble an apology, but Harry didn't let him speak.

"Now listen to me Draco Malfoy. I know that you are pretty shaken by all this, but that's no excuse to…! Holly Hell! How can you think that I'll take your baby away from you? I thought you knew me better than that!"

Draco hugged himself, but didn't fight Harry. He sobbed and tried to put his thoughts into some semblance of coherency.

"I do know you. I know that you're a caring and noble person… And I also know that you don't take very well to people that lie to you… You specially dislike people controlling you… And I never was your favourite person, you used to despise me, and you had a life and projects before all of this happened…"

"Draco, calm down and breathe."

Harry's hearth ached. Draco was really scared. Whatever was the secret he was keeping, it was making a mess of the boy's mind, that much Harry could see. Draco started to cry in full now, and the Gryffindor couldn't help but take him into his arms and cuddle him. He talked softly into the blond hair.

"It's all right Draco. It doesn't matter what I thought about you in the school. I know you better now, and I really like you. I won't leave you Draco."

Draco sobbed and tried to control himself. Merlin, he hated to cry!

"B-but… you don't know the truth… I-I don't know what you're gonna think about me when you know… I-I'm so scared because I know you're not gonna like it and… and I did some things I didn't want to but… I needed to… I-I just…"

"Ssht. Calm down. You're rambling Draco. Is this truth really that bad?"

The blond took a deep breath and nodded.

"You're not gonna be happy."

Harry wanted to chuckle ruefully. It was almost a given in his life that every problem that could exist would be thrown his way.

"Well, I'm getting used to the fact that nice surprises just don't happen to me." He held Draco more tightly and moved them both into a more comfortable position, so he wouldn't be half out of the bed and Draco could cuddle into him all he wanted. "Please don't worry about it. Just have a little trust in me, ok? I promise that whatever happens, I'm not going to take your baby away from you. I'll be honoured if you let me raise our child along with you."

Draco held onto Harry tightly. If only he could be sure that the Gryffindor really meant what he was saying.

"Please, repeat me that when you know the entire tale. Please."

Harry sighed and kissed Draco's head.

"Ok. And I'm sure that I'll feel the same about you, you'll see."

Draco could only hope.

"Thanks."

* * *

Draco had the shock of his life when Moody took out the glamour and he could see his real reflection on the mirror. He was horrified. Merlin and all gods above! How could it be possible? He was so fat. Fat. Fat. Fat. Fat. It was no wonder that his feet and back ached all day! He was so big! No matter that Granger tried to convince him that it was normal, it was not normal! Not for him! How was he going to manage to return to his previous weight? Most of it should be fat, it had to! There was no way that the baby was so big at six months! It couldn't be!

He spent the day crying and internally cursing Voldemort, and his stupid aunt, and the dragons, and magic in general. Eventually, the teenagers managed to calm him down, though the only thing that actually relaxed him was to make him remember his mother and the perfect figure she had, even after having given birth to him. He still covered the mirror with a blanket and refused to look into one for the duration of the pregnancy.

The following days were a bit awkward in the house. Ginny had been returned to the Longbottoms' state and ordered to visit St. Mungos' hideout at least twice a week. Harry wasn't talking with the adults, and he had had a fight with Alastor, trying to keep the ex-auror from getting close to Draco. He was sure that the old wizard knew the real tale of what was happening with the blond and had something to do with it. He didn't know why, but the fact was that he was sure, and he was not letting Moody hurt Draco anymore. Draco was frustrated because he could not make Harry see that Moody meant no harm to him. The Gryffindor wouldn't be deterred in his propose to protect Draco, not even by the blond himself.

Malfoy for his part was surrounded by attention. Now he had to put up not only with Molly's mothering, but with Fleur's and Hermione's too. The twins were following him everywhere, trying to pock him at every chance. Harry managed to shoo them away from time to time, but there was nothing that could make him leave Draco in peace. After three days, the blond was ready to yell at all of them to leave him alone. He was asking himself why he had ever thought that Harry had a right to know about his pregnancy. He was going to go insane!

Finally Moody put his foot down and demanded that the teenagers continue with their training. After a mighty shouting match between Harry and Moody, in which Harry's magic made the walls of the entire house tremble, the pair eventually reached an agreement and settled their differences. They were not in friendly terms again, but at least they could work together and not kill each other.

So, a routine was set and Draco had a couple of hours to himself each day while the rest were training. The first day he was immensely grateful for the respite and started to really appreciate the care that Potter was showing. The Gryffindor even was sleeping in the same bed as Draco and hugged him tenderly all-night. The blond was trying to remind himself to not grow used to that, but the comfort and security he felt were so precious to dismiss. He let Harry cuddle with him and slowly their bond grew stronger.

Some days later, the blond looked at one of the many rooms in disbelief. Molly Weasley was mad. Plain and simple. And the twins were madder. Draco stood, looking in awe as the Weasley matron directed her sons to dismantle the room and gave instructions to the house-elves about how the walls and floor should be cleaned. The room had once been the nursery of the house, but had been transformed into some sort of storage room. Molly had put herself to the task of getting it liveable again and ready to provide an adequate space for Draco's baby.

The blond stared at the blurs of activity that were the Weasleys, unsure of what to think about it. He was aware of the fact that his child would be born in the middle of a war and that it was more than likely that they would be stuck in Grimmauld place for yet a long time. But he knew that he wouldn't be giving birth in the house, or anywhere close to any of the current inhabitants of it. And he didn't know what would happen after the birth. What if he wasn't allowed to return to it? What if he wasn't wanted there anymore?

He felt his throat constricting at the thought that his baby might never get to enjoy a nursery of any kind. Harry arrived at that moment and put an arm around his waist. The Gryffindor looked at the movement inside the room and sighed. He was still mad at the adults, but Molly was the only mother figure he had, and she had been going beside herself trying to make it up to him. The nursery was not a bad idea; after all, the baby would need a special place for itself. They could accommodate a basinet in his and Draco's room, but it was not the same. To prepare a room for the baby made it all the more real. Harry hugged Draco and kissed his temple.

"Too bad that we don't know the sex of the baby. It would make the decorating easier, I think."

Madam Pomfrey had been reluctant about using magic on Draco more than strictly necessary. She had only been doing the mandatory spells to know that the baby was in good health. Draco sighed. He actually knew what his baby was, Sally had told him as soon as she had been sure. But he didn't know if he should tell. There was already enough fuss as it was.

"I think…"

Harry turned to look at him.

"You have any preference?"

Draco shrugged.

"Not per se. But… a girl would be nice."

He blushed and Harry looked pensive for a moment. Then he smiled and put his hand over the blonde's belly.

"A girl then. We must make sure that the décor of the room will be appropriate."

Draco hid his face on Harry's neck and sighed. He couldn't help the feeling of safety that invaded him. He prayed that things continued to run easily.

* * *

Voldemort looked at the closed gates of Hogwarts in a raging fury. The castle would not open. Not for him or anyone else. He had tried every secret passage known by Pettigrew and a few others. He had even tried to use the vanishing cabinet that the young Malfoy had managed to repair with no luck. The cabinet just kept rejecting anyone that stepped into it. He had put Malfoy, Snape, Lestrange and Parkinson to find a way to break the wards surrounding the school. Only there were no wards. Whatever force kept people outside the school grounds had not been seen before. There was no way to know if the house-elves were still inside the structure. They won't answer to Snape's calls. The potions master believed this to be because there was no Headmaster, and therefore no one to whom the elves owed their loyalty.

The Dark Lord gritted his teeth and growled. The last of his horcruxes was inside the castle. Malfoy had confessed that he had given it to his son on his second year for him to hide it in the dungeons. It had been an ideal time to do it, since everyone had been occupied with the monster from the Chamber of Secrets. The boy had obeyed his father and the horcrux was now away from its owner's reach. Even when Riddle could manage to establish a fragile mental connection with it and know it was still untouched, he couldn't activate it. He wasn't able to take complete control of it.

Damn it all! There must be a way to get into the Castle! He wasn't going to leave the last of his horcruxes to chance! He turned around angrily and apparated to his manor, where Pettigrew was waiting, cowering on the floor, in the exact position he had left him two hours ago. Voldemort made a face of disgust at the pitiful man.

"Wormtail, is everything ready?"

"Y-yes my lord! Everything!"

"Well, what are you waiting for? Move! Announce to our 'employees' that we are moving office to Hogsmeade!"

"Y-yes! Yes my lord! Immediately!"


	22. Discovered

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Chapter 2****1. Discovered.**

"It must be there. Why else would you-know-who move to Hogsmeade?"

The general feeling in the kitchen was of desolation. Remus had just shared the news of Voldemort taking Hogsmeade as his place of residence and head of his government. The town had been practically abandoned before the first Death Eaters had arrived. Only a few had stayed, willing to bow to the new regimen in exchange to be allowed to retain their homes and land. They had nothing else and no other place to go.

The rebels were searched thoroughly and though there were still people holding onto hope, the majority of the population was falling into resignation. What was left of the Order of the Phoenix had reunited with the rebels and was still trying to fight, but their chances were growing dimmer as time passed.

Harry huffed angrily. They just needed to destroy one last horcrux and then Voldemort would be as mortal as anyone, and they could have a chance to destroy him. He should have known that the madman would like to hide one of his horcruxes in the castle. The school had been an important place for him after all. Besides, considering that Riddle had a fixation with the founders of Hogwarts, what more representative place than the school that the four had created?

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Said Harry. He had forgotten that the school had closed itself and that no one had managed to get inside since then. McGonagall answered him.

"No one can enter the school Harry. We have already asked Dobby to try, but it's useless."

Harry clenched his fists and scowled.

"Well, at least Riddle can't reach it either."

"That's small consolation. He's going to guard the castle tightly, and with Pettigrew by his side, he'll know every secret passage into it. Being there he'll have all the advantage to find a way into Hogwarts." Said Remus again.

Moody watched as the others gave different ideas to get into the castle without presenting his opinion. He knew that they weren't going to succeed. Hogwarts was not going to reopen as long as there wasn't a suitable Headmaster to take control of its magic. Contrary to popular belief, Alastor knew that the Board of Governors was not the one to appoint a new Headmaster, and they certainly could not fire him either. The previous Headmaster or mistress named the successor before retiring, and in fact trained such successor for a couple of years. The Headmaster made sure to present his "suggestion" to the Board of Governors when they met to discuss the candidates. No one had ever stopped to think how odd it was that the new Headmaster or mistress always resulted to be the previous one's suggestion.

Albus Dumbledore had died without doing the necessary ritual for the castle to change master. He had not named anyone. Thus, the school for the first time in centuries found itself without a master, and had shut itself down, waiting for an appropriate candidate. The problem was that there was no one that would fit the requirements. When the founders had woven the spells and the magic that would sustain the castle, they had made it so only a bonded could reign over it. Every other who tried would be overloaded with the intensity of the magic and his magical core will literally explode. The founders had been relentless in this. Their school would always have a Rainbow Dragon present, so its magic would never drain off. The castle aligned not only to the Headmaster's magical signature, but also to the one of his dragon. Together, dragon and mage controlled the magic of the entire school and its grounds. The last years had been very hard on Dumbledore. Without his dragon, the man had partially shut his connection to the castle. It had been a miracle that he hadn't gone mad. He had survived as long as his magical core had allowed him to.

Moody grumped as McGonagall suggested researching the process to elect a new Headmaster and the ritual to take possession of the charge. Maybe in some of the history books in the Black's library could be a clue. Mad eye only shook his head and continued with his own thoughts. They were in the right path but it was useless. They'll find nothing that could help them retrieve the last horcrux. There was no choice but to wait. Everything now depended on Malfoy's unborn child and the ritual. Just a couple of months more and either they would be able to have revenge and re-establish order, or they all would be doomed.

* * *

Draco was in his room, sitting on an armchair at a small table. He was reading about potions and how they had been used in battle along the years. There was not much information, but enough for him to make notes and propose some ways to improve their effectiveness. He was going to ask the Weasley twins to try them later.

Suddenly he sighed and reclined on the armchair. He was bored out of his mind. He was banished from the potions' lab. He was not allowed to watch as the others trained in the chance that there could be an astray spell. He couldn't fly a broom or work in the garden, taking care of the plants. He couldn't help in the kitchen. He was not to worry, stress or tire himself needlessly, and so it was better for him to remain in his room, reading books, than be downstairs with everybody else planning a strategy for the war. He couldn't do anything! For the love of Merlin, he was only pregnant! People with terminal diseases got to do more activity than him!

He sighed and continued rubbing his midsection. He was already in the first week of his seventh month and Madam Pomfrey said that the baby just needed to grow more and gain strength. Malfoy couldn't imagine how much more his little girl was expected to grow. Anyway, Sally was who had him worried the most. She had been vanishing from his consciousness for moments. Draco should have been at the peak of his magical potential already, and the dragon bond was becoming unstable. Sally's mother's magic was spent, and their combined magic had been totally focused on his pregnancy. His core had started to feed not only on Harry's magic, but also on the House's too on a daily basis. The flow of magic was maintaining his baby safe and alive, but it was slowly killing both him and Sally.

He needed to talk with Severus, Moody was not too happy with him at the moment. Someone had to help him to provide himself more magic or he was not going to survive long enough to give birth.

He sighed as he tried to stand up and groaned at the pain on his back. It was killing him. Men were not body-designed to carry a baby. All his bones were stressed; specially his hips and lower back. And the baby was still growing! Draco was starting to get terrified. He was not going to make it!

He walked to the window and looked at the garden morosely. Fortunately there had been no more incidents that required the use of his magic. Everyone was so damn careful around him! Draco leaned his head on the window and closed his eyes, enjoying the cold glass on his forehead. He heard the door of the room opening and seconds later Harry's voice carried to him.

"Draco, are you ok?"

The blond growled quietly and answered.

"I swear Potter, if you ask me one more time if I'm ok, I'm going to hurt you."

"Sorry. How do you feel then?"

Draco glared at the chuckling Gryffindor. He was not amused at all. Harry sobered and looked at the small table and the book over it.

"Oh, do you have something more for the twins? They are having fun with your propositions. It think they are considering getting you into their prank business."

"Rub salt in the wound, would you Potter?"

"Hey, what's the matter?"

"I'm bored Harry! The only thing you lot would let me do is reading! I don't even get to watch your strategy sessions! It's a miracle that I know what's happening out there!"

Harry sighed and took Draco's hand. The blond looked at their joined hands sadly, thinking how bad it would feel when there will be no more Harry around. The Gryffindor tried to pull him into a hug.

"I'm sorry. It's just that you're in a very unique situation. I don't want you to be hurt, and well, I suppose we don't have a very clear idea of what would be bad for you and what wouldn't. Just bear with us a bit."

He put his hand over Draco's tummy and rubbed circles on it. The baby kicked and the blond sighed, leaning completely on Harry. The Gryffindor smiled and his hand stayed on the spot where his child had moved.

"She's growing. Soon we'll have to think how we're going to manage to buy her diapers and clothes. I don't think that transfigured things are adequate."

Malfoy grumped and closed his eyes briefly. Somehow they had agreed to not ask how it was that Draco knew the sex of his child. Harry just accepted that he did, and the blond was grateful. He felt tired. It was ridiculous, a second ago he had been complaining about not doing anything, but nonetheless he felt as if he could sleep all day. However he didn't want to sit again. His back hurt. He decided to stay in the position he was until his feet's complains got too annoying.

"You worry too much Harry. And you care too. We used to hate each other remember?"

"Well, I think that we pretty much have left that childless behind us, don't you think? Besides, I really like you, and this is my responsibility as well. You didn't make the baby alone."

"You know, I was actually expecting you to act this way with Weasley when we all thought she was pregnant."

"Please! After what she did, why would you expect me to want to even see her?"

"Well, she was your girlfriend, and you two fancied each other in school. Besides, the child was completely innocent of her deed. You always wanted a family, and I just thought that you'd forgive her to take care of your child."

"To be honest I never really thought about the baby. Sometimes I saw Mrs. Weasley worrying and supposed that I should worry too, but it just didn't happen how it was supposed to. I was more worried over the fact that I didn't feel any care and that I dreaded to have to talk with her eventually. I kind of felt that Ginny's baby never was my responsibility. She was the one that wanted it so bad, then she should have been the one to care for it. In a way, I think that it never really existed in my mind."

Draco sighed and put his head over Harry's shoulder. He was feeling dizzy. Harry been there was a blessing for him, but he doubted that it will be enough to compensate for the draining on his magical core. He feared that not even the house's magic would be enough. What was there that could replace a full-grown Rainbow Dragon's magic?

"What are you thinking?" Harry asked. He took Draco to the bed and sat them both on it. The blond didn't protest.

"I'm just worrying myself. Look, Harry, I-I have something to ask of you."

"What is it?"

Draco bit his lips in nervousness. He didn't know how to phrase his requirement.

"You see… I know that there are many facts that you should be aware of, and that this is not going to be easy… I-I just want you to promise me that…" He took a deep breath and Harry's hug tightened.

"It's ok Draco. I'm not going to be angry with you or our girl. You'll see."

"It's not that… I-I… If I don't survive the birth, can you promise me that my child will have a home? E-even if you don't want to take care of her, could you at least make sure that she will have a family? Please?"

Harry looked at the blond head in shock for a few seconds, and then put one hand on Draco's cheek and forced the boy to look at him. It almost broke his heart to see those grey eyes so frightened.

"Draco, you're not going to die. I need you to stop thinking that. You're going to be alive and we are going to take care of our girl together. Don't you want to? To see her grow and call you dad, and to make a face at how much of a Gryffindor she's going to be? To take her to the park and watch her play with other children? Don't you want to be with me?"

Draco sniffed and closed his eyes.

"I very much want to."

Harry hugged him again and kissed his head.

"Everything is going to be alright Draco. We're going to manage. You'll see."

* * *

Moody sat heavily on the comfortable coach that Salamanca had conjured for him in the Chamber. He needed a break from the pressure of the house. It had been a tough three weeks since the teenagers had found out about the Malfoy boy's pregnancy. The situation was better now, but he was the most stressed over the boy's health. Everyone had been mindful of the blond and worrying over his constant tiredness and dizziness, especially Potter. But Moody was the only one that knew what exactly was at stake. The only one in the house that actually knew how much they all were going to loose if the boy's baby didn't make it. Alastor was now convinced that Draco probably wouldn't survive the birth. Their only chance was that the baby would.

The household was also worrying over the last horcrux and how the rebels were loosing territory. You-know-who was growing stronger each day, and soon there would be no one left in England that opposed him.

All of that had lost importance for Moody and the rest of the bonded ones. Their only concern was Draco's unborn child. The world could tear itself apart if it wanted to as long as the boy remained safe and in condition to do the ritual. They'll worry about the rest later, when their dragons were back and there'd still be a magical world to be worried about.

Salamanca and a man named Anaximas Dadivous were talking about the recent events to distract themselves. Alastor listened quietly. Dadivous was helping a group of rebels, and had managed to keep them safe until then, but he commented that others had not been so lucky. So far more than a hundred muggleborns had disappeared and You-know-who had found out one of St. Mungo's hide outs, killing everyone in there. The rebels had decided to lie down for a while, waiting for a better opportunity to attack again. Some were trying to find a way to communicate with the rest of the world, perhaps ask for help.

Alastor was starting to doze of, when one of the dimensional doors flared alive and hurried steps were heard. He opened his eyes and came to attention when he saw Snape and Nott, both pale as death and hurrying to their encounter. Severus barely waited to be close enough to be understood.

"Moody, go back to headquarters now! Get them out of there!"

"What happened?" Asked a worried Salamanca. Anaximas and Alastor stood immediately while Nott answered.

"The Dark Lord has found a way to break the fidelius! We must hurry!"

No sooner had Nott spoken than Moody was already running to the Black's portal. Salamanca turned to Anaximas.

"Call the others, the most you can, we must save the boy!"

The man hurried to do as he was told while the three remaining wizards followed Alastor.

* * *

Draco was in the nursery, looking at the black's redecorated crib. It was a beautiful Cherry creation that had cravings on its four posts of fairies and many magical creatures. The twins had polished it and put a small mattress and some pastel-coloured blankets, Merlin only knew where had they found those. There was few furniture in the nursery. The crib, a small dresser, a rocking chair by the window and an armchair that Harry wanted to reupholster. Draco was analysing the crib distrustfully. He loved the thing, but didn't trust the twins to not had done something to it. He knew that they wouldn't do anything that could harm a baby, but there were many charms that could fool a parent.

He sighed and shook his head. He was getting paranoid. Next thing he was going to be listening plots around him to take his baby away. He liked to think that it was Mad eye's fault that he was so nervous. The man had been restless the last couple of days. Draco wished they could leave the house at least for a while. It seemed that everyone was starting to feel claustrophobic.

Draco rubbed his belly tenderly. Even with his robes on he was showing. He smiled, thinking of his little girl and all the attention she was already getting. He was wondering how he was going to tell his mother about the baby when he felt a disturbance in the house. He frowned, trying to focus in the flow of magic that he was absorbing from Grimmauld place, and suddenly he gasped in pain. Something was tearing at it. He didn't know how that was possible, but he clearly felt the magic ripping apart. He tried to get himself out of it. Painfully he cut his connection with the house and instantly felt the soreness of his muscles getting ten times worse. He gasped for breath and leaned heavily on the crib's railing. What the hell was happening?

He carefully turned around and was ready to call for help when loud noises got to him from the door. There were shouting and crashing, like someone was fighting. The noise got nearer to the room and Draco looked in fear as the house-elves suddenly appeared in front of him, just in time to protect him from the blast that tore the door apart and the hexes fired by the two men that entered the nursery. Draco almost screamed. He recognized the Death Eater's robes too well. The men just hesitated a second when they saw him, but immediately fired against the two elves that were in the way.

Draco looked desperately around. The nursery had another door that led to the main bedroom. The boy tried to reach it. He was about to get hold of the doorknob when powerful hands grabbed him from behind, turned and slammed him against a wall. He did scream then. His hands and magic instantly went around his stomach, trying to protect his baby. His ears were ringing and he couldn't breath. He might have passed out for a moment because the next thing he was aware of was someone shaking him and a familiar furious voice yelling at him.

"Answer me! You poor excuse of a son! What is the meaning of this?"

Draco tried to focus in the person that was abusing him and suddenly his mouth felt dry.

"F-father." He said faintly.

Lucius sneered horribly and backhanded him. His head hit the wall with the force of it and he saw stars. The man gave a step away and released him. Draco fell to the floor, and slumped against the wall. His hands never left his belly. He was horrified when he looked the bodies of both house-elves crumpled at the far side of the room. His father started to talk in a tone that reminded him of his multiple lectures when he had been a child.

"I'm in Azkaban thinking that my son would be working to gain the Dark Lord's favour for our family. Achieving triumphs for our side. The Dark Lord finally got me out of that hellhole and I'm told that such son is dead, and that my wife has run to France in shame for having birthed such useless spawn. I'm told that he could not complete even the easiest of missions. That he had Dumbledore in front of him, sick and without a wand, and he could not kill him! Snape had to finish my son's work, making it his own accomplishment!"

Lucius cane came in his line of view and Draco tried to curl into himself, but a hand grabbed his hair and pulled at it, forcing his back upright even when he was still kneeling. Terrified he mentally screamed, trying to reach Sally and get her out of her slumber. Someone had to help him. Lucius continued talking.

"I must say I was mostly crossed. It was certainly a consolation to know that my son was dead and thus unable to bring more shame to my family. Narcissa and I are still young. There's plenty of time to have a more adequate heir."

The hit of the cane on his back hurt like hell. Draco cried and desperately tried to use his magic, but it was not answering to him. He could feel the bond with Harry trying to pull more magic from the boy and he was scared, thinking that maybe Harry was not going to be able to fight properly. His father gave him another blow and he stopped worrying and concentrated on not passing out.

"But here you are. Alive and in the company of blood traitors and that filthy half-blood Potter! And this…" He poked Draco's pregnant belly with his cane and the boy's magic flared, unnoticed by the man. Draco whimpered and wriggled. He was desperately trying to get free from his father's grip. Lucius shook him and Draco screamed in pain.

"What is the meaning of this Draco? What have you done?"

Draco could sense his magic reaching out around him, searching for suitable magical sources to feed on. It recoiled from the house for some reason Draco couldn't phantom. His father raised the cane again, ready to strike him with more force, when a sibilant hiss stopped him.

"Lucius, Lucius. There's no need to use such muggle methods to punish the boy."

Draco looked in utter terror as Voldemort entered the room, followed by the Lestranges, Crabbe senior, McNair and Greyback. Rabastan was dragging along an angry looking Harry with no consideration. The blond boy started to tremble. His father finally let go of him and he curled on the floor, the only thought on his mind was to protect his child. He heard someone growling lowly and thought it was the werewolf. His suspicious were confirmed with the following words of the Dark Lord.

"Quiet Greyback! Or I'll have to find a cage for you!"

The werewolf backed off and stayed close to the door. It was obvious that he was doing an effort to contain himself, but no one was paying any attention to him. Lucius sneered at the interruption, but quickly composed himself.

"I'm sorry my Lord. The boy makes me do unconceivable things. His behaviour has been most unfitting to his birth."

"I understand your discomfiture Lucius. Imagine my own surprise. I was led to believe that the boy was dead. I had ordered him to be severely punished for his incompetence. I wonder why our dear Severus would lie about your son. A pity he's not here to ask him."

The Dark Lord looked at Draco's quivering figure with despise. The boy was kneeling on the floor, with his head firmly pressed against it and hugging himself, effectively hiding his front from view.

Bellatrix started to get nervous. She could feel the boy's magic flaring, reaching out to hers. She tried to block it, but her own core acted without her permission. There was a very subtle flow of magic now between her and Malfoy's boy. She looked anxiously at her nephew and allowed her senses to open. And she felt. Her eyes widened in surprise. It was not possible! She squealed in delight and was about to give the news to her master, but stopped, suddenly taking his hand to her mouth. The curse would not let her speak freely. Blasted cousin of hers! She had to think how she could convey her message to her Lord in a way that she'll be understood. Everyone else had forgotten the information she had revealed almost nineteen years ago, but not her master. He still remembered it and was frustrated at her inability to tell him exactly where to find the rest of the bonded that still were around. Damn them all!

While Bella cursed her luck, Voldemort approached the boy, who crawled backwards until his father stopped him. The Dark Lord sneered.

"Such cowardice. I can see what you're referring to Lucius."

"That's not the only thing my Lord."

Voldemort made a gesture of askance. It was clear that Malfoy senior was truly shaken by the sight of his son, and Riddle was curious as to what could make the usually collected man so disturbed. For his surprise, Lucius actually looked embarrassed for a moment before his eyes landed on Harry.

"Ah, but surely Potter here can give me an explanation."

"I have nothing to explain to you! Draco is here by accident, he has said nothing to us!"

Harry didn't want Draco to get hurt. He will even pretend that he still hated the blond if it will help him to avoid Malfoy senior's ire. Lucius however didn't believe Harry. He clenched his teeth in rage and grabbed his son by the arms, forcing him to his feet and to show his protruding belly.

"Accident! You call this an accident? I'm no fool Potter, I don't know how you managed this… aberration! I want to know what in hell my son let you do!"

Draco screamed and trashed in his father's grip. He wanted to kick the man, but couldn't manage. Harry was red with anger while the rest of the wizards present were shocked.

"Let him go you bastard!"

"My, my. How unusual." The Dark Lord hissed. Bellatrix immediately found her opportunity.

"Ancient magic my Lord! Powerful ancient magic! Only the ones…! The ones… My Lord, please understand!"

"What are you talking about Bella? Do you know how this can be possible?"

Lucius didn't like to be in the dark about something Bella knew. But Voldemort narrowed his eyes, understanding very well what Bellatrix wanted to say.

"I see."

He raised his wand at Draco and the boy froze in utter terror. In his mind he continued yelling frantically. Sally had to hear him!

"Maybe our dear Snape has his personal agenda."

"Yes! Yes my Lord!" Bellatrix screamed. "He is not trustworthy! He and Nott!"

"Silence! All this years, and I can't believe that you couldn't find the words to tell me that Snape was a traitor! I'll deal with you later Bella!"

"Bu-but my Lord, I-I couldn't…!"

"You didn't have to tell exactly what he was traitor for. We'll see to that later Bella! Right now, the little Malfoy heir has much to explain."

Draco tried to free himself from his father's grip, but only accomplished that the man pulled one of his arms forcibly at his back. The Dark Lord gave him his full attention.

"It seems that I had been loosing precious time looking for something that had been right in front of my eyes from the beginning. Who could have thought?"

Draco whimpered pitifully. The hold of his father on his throat was making breathing difficult, and the position of his arm let him with very little option but to stay as immobile as possible. The tip of Voldemort's wand moved dangerously over his chest. In the background of his mind, something stirred, but he was too terrified to notice. Lucius scowled, trying to make sense of the Dark Lord's words.

"My Lord, I wasn't aware that my son had been hiding something this important. If I had known…"

"You couldn't have known Lucius. Every one of you has been subjected to a very well done Obliviation. In fact, I dare say that your son didn't have the slightest notion of been hiding something. Until recently, that is."

Harry fought against Lestrange's hold without success. His need to put himself between Draco and Voldemort was almost overwhelming.

"Leave him alone you son of a bitch! You've done enough to him! You're not touching him anymore!"

Voldemort turned his red eyes to the trashing boy and smirked malevolently.

"Curious. I seem to notice that you are under some delusion that this… anomaly is somehow my fault." He said, pointing with his wand at Draco's belly. The blond boy squirmed. "I assure you, Potter, that I had nothing to do with this particular development, though I'm rather curious as to how it was done."

The maniac turned his eyes to Draco again.

"And it is a signal. It's telling me that you boy, have something that I want. Something that should be mine! Your traitor of a cousin was very clever indeed, doing his little trick before Bella had the chance to tell me every name I needed to know. Your pathetic group did a pretty good job hiding themselves, but it has been all for nothing. You're going to give me what I want!"

Draco's eyes were filled with tears. He never stopped screaming for help in his mind. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Greyback tensing, getting ready to attack. His father's hand on his jaw tightened painfully, forcing him to keep looking forwards. Draco gulped with effort. He couldn't talk. The Dark Lord was suddenly looking right into his eyes and the boy felt like his head was being beaten with a hammer. He screamed loudly and almost passed out from the pain. Harry was yelling obscenities at the dark wizard, who made a face of frustration and anger upon realizing that his legilimency was not working. He stopped. The blond boy gasped a deep breath and went limp. His father released him and Draco fell to his knees, curling on himself. Voldemort snarled and carelessly threw a silencing hex to Harry. The Gryffindor's voice ceased to be heard.

"I know you have it! I followed a false lead all this years! Though that was my own fault for giving too much credit to a clearly fake prophesy. It doesn't matter any more, where is it? Tell me! Where is it hiding?"

The boy shook his head weakly. He was slowly drifting unto unconsciousness. His mouth answered automatically.

"I-I don't know… w-what're you… w-what you want…"

"Liar! I know you can call it. And you will do it for me. You are going to call the dragon, and you will die, so the bond can be transferred to me!"

Draco couldn't hear anymore. He had entered some sort of trance. His mind was numb and he was starting to feel Sally's presence reaching out to him, pulling him down to the recesses of his own mind. Her growl was clear now and Draco desperately reached out for her too. All his being longing for warm and safety. His body remained on hands and knees and shaking like a leaf. The Dark Lord sneered at him and turned to his Death Eaters to bark orders at them.

"Take the prisoners to Malfoy's dungeons! Potter and the boy are coming with us! Be prepared, as soon as I finish here I'll take down the shields surrounding the building and you'd be able to apparate!"

The Death Eaters hurried to obey. Greyback walked backwards until he got past the door's threshold and with a final snarl he went away. Only the Lestranges and Malfoy remained. Voldemort turned to look at Harry, who couldn't tear his eyes from Draco. He was trying desperately to find a way to get to the blond. He felt helpless and couldn't begin to understand how they could be trapped like this. Voldemort gave him an ugly smirk.

"Don't worry Potter. You'll get to watch first hand how I get the ultimate power. No one is going to stop me now. The world is mine!"

Harry glared loath fully at the man and tried to kick out at him, eliciting an amused gesture from Riddle. The wizard looked again at the blond boy and a cruel smile graced his lipless mouth.

"Such a shame Lucius. I surely had expected better from your seed."

"I'm deeply ashamed my Lord. But if you would allow me to correct my mistake, I'll like to do it right now."

Lucius took out his wand and Harry paled, but the Dark Lord only cackled, looking pleased.

"All in due time Lucius. There's something he has to do for me first. And he will do it in the right place, so I can proceed accordingly and not lose the opportunity again. In the meantime, we can take care of your son's little 'problem.' It won't do for this to reach public knowledge, don't you think?"

"Of course my Lord. I certainly won't tolerate it."

Harry renewed his efforts to free himself. Draco didn't move. The blond was breathing heavily and rocking slowly back and forth in clear distress. The Dark Lord looked mockingly at him.

"You know boy, one can force a pregnant woman to give birth before time with the cruciatus. Of course the child is killed in the process and the mother bleeds to death. But don't worry; we'll be careful that you remain alive. I bet that your father is willing to rid the Malfoy name of the aberration that you carry now. Isn't that right Lucius?"

"Nothing could please me more at this moment my Lord."

Voldemort smirked with malice and pointed his wand once again in Draco's direction. Harry had gone pretty still. No one but him had noticed that the Slytherin boy had stopped his rocking and was looking at Voldemort through a curtain of hair that obscured his eyes. Even so, Harry could clearly see the boy's right eye. Draco's yellow eye, with a slim slit pupil. Harry gulped, suddenly remembering all the talks about ghostly dragons he had had with the twins and Draco's reluctance to talk about the matter. Voldemort had been talking about a dragon just now. Suddenly the urge to be well away from there was top priority and Harry pushed himself against his captor, who hardened his grip, expecting the boy to renew his trashing.

The Dark Lord indicated Lucius to point his wand to his son, which the blond man did eagerly.

"With me Lucius. This is gonna be entertaining."

Harry looked around him and promptly ducked behind the overturned armchair, taking a surprised Rabastan with him. Draco was not aware of the proceedings. He was immersed in his own mind now, hearing Sally's words around him.

'_Corrupted. Incomplete. A dead soul. Ceased to exist ages ago…__'_

Draco blinked. He looked up to see the Dark Lord pointing his wand at him and had only a fraction of a second to truly panic before he heard the curse.

"Crucio!"

Draco screamed, but not from pain. Neither of the two curses reached him. The scream was born from Draco's surprise at feeling Sally's magic explode from inside him to the outside and the sudden wave of dark magic coming into his core in return. The world around him exploded and he could see a very angry translucent dragon making havoc in the small room. She needed more space. She was very quick in creating it.


	23. In the Chamber

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Author note: **Sorry for the delay. This chapter had to be rewritten three times, I think I was loosing the main plot.

**Chapter 22.**** In the Chamber.**

Severus Snape was at his wits' end. This could not be happening! How in the nine hells had the Dark Lord managed to crack the fidelius? It was absurd! And they had not known about it on time! He and Nott should be inside the damn house! But they had been stupid enough to stay back when they had been called. Both of them had been making themselves scarce under the pretense of being in the field, tracking rebels. A mistake that had earned them the Dark Lord's suspicions. They had only known about what was happening because Pettigrew had been gloating about how it was likely that they got severely punished for not assisting in such an important raid! And now they were all in the back garden of Grimmauld place, fighting against a special ward that didn't allow entering, and at the same time imprisoned the ones inside!

Anaximas had called the others and ten of them were weakening the wards, but they were not fast enough. They needed to get in! The Dark Lord could not be allowed to get Draco!

The wards were finally starting to crack when they felt the ground began to tremble. All ten people looked astonished as one section of the wall that should be part of the third floor exploded outwards, effectively taking down the wards around the building. Everyone scattered, trying to get cover from the debris falling, especially when half the house began to collapse. Snape was sure that he could hear a loud roar, just a moment before his magic got sucked out of him. His gasp of surprise was repeated by everyone in the near vicinity. At his side Nott hissed and the roar was heard again.

"We're so fucked up!"

Severus thought the very same thing, but he tried to ignore it and stay calm. He focused on the rush of his magic leaving his body, and followed the direction of the flow, making his way among the debris. By then all hell had broken loose. There was dust and smoke everywhere and he could hear shouting and hexes been fired. He couldn't see clearly where he was heading, but he desperately tried to find Draco. In a moment he dropped to his hands and knees and searched around among the carcass of the house. The stone felt hot under his hands, but surprisingly not enough to burn.

He cursed under his breath. He didn't know how it was possible, but Draco's dragon had apparently physically attacked. The dragon was trapped inside of the boy's body, that much Severus knew. For it to attack it must have used a great amount of magic, and the results didn't look too efficient. That was no good. He needed to find Draco quickly before it was too late.

The pull on his magic grew stronger and finally he found a limp body with a blond head. He manoeuvred the unconscious boy out of the rubble as fast as he could. He was dimly aware of people yelling at his back.

As soon as he had Draco safely in his arms, he stood up and looked around, his mind quickly going over all possible places where he could take his charge, and only one came up that was safe enough. He spotted Moody getting an unconscious Potter from under some blocks of concrete and a destroyed armchair, and beyond him people were throwing hexes at each other. The dust was starting to settle down and he could distinguish a couple of figures running to the back of the garden. He frowned, wondering where they intended to go when Moody hissed at his side.

"There's a magic door on the back wall. We must go quickly!"

Snape frowned and shook his head.

"No. Draco needs a place that can supply him of magic or he's going to die. You go ahead. I'll take him to the chamber."

He started to make his way out of the wrecked house. Moody followed him, quite shaken.

"You can't! He can't be parted from Potter now! He needs him!"

"Bring the little pest in then! Draco needs to obtain magic and there's no other place in the whole of Britain where the Dark Lord wouldn't find him!"

"But Potter can't enter the chamber!"

"Of course he can! They're bonded for Merlin's sake! And he's already reached the peak of his magical power; it's time for him to meet a dragon. The fact that there's none around doesn't take the power from him. The only thing he can't do is stay in the chamber for too long!"

Moody didn't look very convinced. He wanted to argue more, but both men felt at the same moment an overwhelming release of dark magic. They gasped and Draco whimpered in Snape's arms. Severus started to run in the direction of the garden's entrance to the Chamber. Moody had no choice but to follow. They miraculously sorted the debris around them, and practically jumped into the open hole. The door closed behind them and disappeared from view, just when a very irate Voldemort freed himself from the big pile of rubble that had been burying him, and started sending curses to everything that was moving.

* * *

In the dungeons of Malfoy manor, about a dozen prisoners were suddenly startled when the doors to their cells opened. Two house elves appeared and nicely invited everyone to vacate the premises, signalling that they were no longer welcome in the property. The prisoners, along with their four Death Eater's guards, looked astonished at the elves long enough for the little creatures to lose their patience, and sighing at the wizards' lack of reaction moved their hands and conjured a rather powerful wind that forced the lot of them all the way to the closest entrance.

Before anyone could comprehend what was happening, they were outside the property's wards, looking in bafflement as the gates closed firmly in their faces. The Death Eaters were too shocked to even react when some of the prisoners decided to take a chance and try to rid their captors of their wands.

* * *

Harry came around slowly. All his body ached and his head was hurting big time. He felt a bit nauseous, but not enough to compel him to stand up and look for a bathroom. He remained lying on the bed without moving and not opening his eyes. He was aware of people near him and urgent whispers. He tried to ignore it. He wasn't sure of what was happening or how the hell he had ended up in a bed instead of a dungeon or worse. He felt incredibly tired. That thing that had appeared when Draco had been cursed had done quite the number on them. It was a miracle that they were still alive.

A doubt entered his mind and he wondered where Draco was. He forced his eyes to open and turned his head a bit to the side. He sighed quietly in relief upon seeing the blond head beside him. His hand wandered under the covers until he found one of the other boy's hands. He squeezed it slightly and closed his eyes again, content that apparently no one had noticed his small movements.

He was drifting into sleep again when a particular voice hit a cord in his brain. He frowned and started to pay attention. A woman was speaking at the moment, saying something about Hogwarts. A man answered in a sombre voice and Harry thought that he could hear something resembling Moody's growl in the background. Then came that voice. Harry tried to focus and remember where he had heard it. He succeeded at least in understanding what was being said.

"There is no point in worrying about it. Hogwarts is not an option. We have to find a suitable refuge for them and do it fast. Potter is not going to be able to remain here for long."

The voice pronounced his surname with a certain drawl that made Harry open his eyes wide in panic.

'_Snape!'_

He struggled to lift his head and take a good look around while at the same time pull himself closer to Draco. They were in a big bed, with soft, cream covers that looked to be expensive. The room was small and entirely white. The walls had something curious about them. They appeared to be glowing. There was a door on the far corner of the room and a small tea table with three armchairs around it at his right. There were four people, three sitting on the armchairs and one leaning on a column on the corner opposite the door. It was no problem to recognize Moody. Snape had been sitting, but he stood up when he noticed that Harry was awake. His movement made the boy sat completely straight on the bed, trying to protect Draco as much as he could. He looked for his wand, but it was nowhere in sight. Moody approached the bed and Harry tensed.

"Potter, at least you are awake now. We need to discuss some things."

Harry snarled at the man, who stopped his advance warily.

"Potter?"

"Don't get close to me! You traitor! How could you?"

Moody looked confused for a moment, but then Snape sighed and took on himself to make a quick explanation.

"No one gave away the headquarters' location Potter. It just happens that the Dark Lord finally found a spell that allowed him to break the Fidelius without the aid of the secret keeper."

Harry didn't change his position. He glared at his ex-potions professor and tried to move even closer to Draco.

"I don't believe any of it Snape! You're a murderer Death Eater!"

Snape was unaffected.

"Regardless of your incredulity Potter, the fact remains that the Dark Lord has now the means to find any hiding place we can think of. Which puts us in a very difficult position, and makes necessary to share certain things that you should not been privy to."

Harry clenched his fists. The nerve of the man! He was about to say something that would surely bring him a lot of troubles when the witch talked.

"Severus, don't be so childish. One thing is that we find ourselves unable to give him the entire information and quite another his right to it. You know that, if not for the curse, he would have his mentor with him already."

Snape sneered, obviously not pleased with the woman for having interrupted his interaction with Potter. But he backed off and the witch stood and smiled pleasantly. Harry didn't relax. He was determined to not let his guard down, no matter how much the woman's posture reminded him of Dumbledore.

"Where are we? Are you Death Eaters too?"

The elder witch didn't stop smiling. In fact, she seemed amused for a moment.

"Oh no Mr. Potter. I can assure you we are not Death Eaters. Neither are we on Voldemort's side."

Harry looked at her suspiciously and then glared at Snape.

"Then why is this murderer here? He has the mark!"

The potion's master was ready to retort, but the witch raised a hand and stopped him. She continued talking, apparently non-affected by Harry's aggressive tone.

"Severus' mark ceased to represent his beliefs a long time ago."

Harry did a disgusted face.

"Really? And by any chance has he tell you that he killed Dumbledore?"

Harry knew that the details of the old Headmaster's decease had been kept from the public until further investigation, which never came. He looked hatefully at the man, waiting for some kind or reaction from his audience that told him that this people were on the right side. The witch's face turned sad, but she remained too calm for Harry's liking.

"That was an unfortunate necessity and Albus only trusted Severus' hand to take over that particular task. It's regrettable that it had to happen like it did. Albus made a mistake. He was careless. But perhaps he felt that his time was long overdue."

The boy practically gaped at her. She had a faraway look on her eyes that made Harry wary. He glanced at the only wizard he didn't know and saw that the news had not taken him by surprise either. He wondered who were this people and why hadn't he know about them before. Finally the witch sighed and recovered her smiling face.

"It's no use to brood on the past. I know that you have never even heard about me before now. My name is Salamanca Witters. I used to be one of Albus' closest friends."

Harry debated whether he should believe that. The fact that they consorted with Dumbledore's murderer talked against them, but why were they apparently helping him and Draco? Just then, a faint pained moan behind him made him look at the other boy in concern. The Slytherin was curling into a foetal position and trembling. Harry touched his face gingerly and tried to see what was wrong. The wizard that had not yet introduced himself was over them instantly.

"Allow me." He said, taking out his wand. Harry immediately bristled.

"No! You can't use magic on him! You could hurt him!"

The man pressed his lips together. He couldn't very well explain to Harry why Draco's apparent reaction to some spells seemed to be so aggressive. Salamanca intervened.

"That's not a problem right now Mr. Potter. Mr. Malfoy's levels of magic had lowered dangerously. He's too weak right now, and he's in danger of loosing the baby. His core is trying to feed on whatever source of magic it can, more than retaliate he's going to absorb the spell. You can trust in Paraximedes, he's an excellent mediwizard."

Harry looked worriedly at Draco's quivering form and regretfully made space for the mediwizard to do is job. He did so quickly and gave Draco a potion that had been on the bedside table. Harry frowned, but the blonde's body relaxed and his face recovered some colour.

The mediwizard covered Draco with the comforter and the blond almost immediately turned to the side, reaching towards Harry.

The Gryffindor looked at the other boy tenderly for a moment before a yawn took him by surprise. With all the excitement he hadn't been truly aware of how tired he actually was. Salamanca smiled at him.

"I think that you still need rest. We can talk later."

It was evident that Harry was not really convinced of their good intentions. He glared at Snape and Moody and looked distrustfully around the room. He really didn't want to fall asleep while these people remained with them. Salamanca sighed and produced a wand from inside her robes. She offered it to the young boy, who eyed it warily before reaching for it. He noticed that Snape looked crossed.

"This is Mr. Malfoy's wand." Salamanca explained. "I'm afraid that we don't know what became of yours. It won't be the same, but I think that you'll be able to use it without problems."

Harry looked at the wand and frowned.

"How do you…?"

"Please, we will explain what we can later. For now, it's better that you recover your strength."

Harry pressed his lips tightly. He didn't like the situation. He didn't trust these people. The only thing that was giving him pause was that they had not hurt Draco or himself, and they seemed to know how to deal with the blond boy's situation. He sighed and got closer to Draco without completely relaxing. The elder witch smiled and signalled the others to get out of the room, following them closely.

Once the door was firmly closed, Harry put a charm on it, that would send an alarm if it was opened again. Then he got himself comfortable under the covers and pulled Draco slightly. The blond boy moaned and curled readily against his side, getting his head nested on Harry's neck. The Gryffindor put his arm around Draco's waist and gingerly touched the blonde's belly, just to be reassured that his child was still there. Finally he closed his eyes and fell into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

Harry paced restlessly from one side of the room to the other. He wanted to go outside and demand to know what was happening in the wizarding world. So far, the only thing he knew was that Voldemort had been searching like mad for traces of him and Draco. Moody had disappeared, supposedly keeping Harry's friends safe, and had not made contact, at least not that Harry knew about.

He looked at the bed, where the blond boy was sleeping, and sighed. He wanted to go out and do something useful, but he didn't dare to get too far away from Draco. He still was trying to make sense of the information that the witch and the mediwizard had given him. He knew about the bond that existed between him and Draco, and that the blonde's magic had been feeding from his for a while now. That was the reason why they had taken them both to the hiding place. They didn't dare to keep them apart. They had stressed the fact that it was really important that Draco's baby survived, but hadn't explained why, or how they came to know about the child.

Harry had the suspicion that the creature that had attacked Voldemort had something to do with all the mess, but no one would tell him anything about it! The mediwizard had mentioned the curse that prevented them from talking freely with him, and the boy was left with the impression that he couldn't really trust anything this people told him. From the little he got answered he understood that they had been part of a group that shared a powerful secret, they had gotten betrayed and Voldemort had hunted them. In retaliation, Sirius' brother had cursed the traitor, but he had messed up with the words and managed to curse everyone in their group.

Harry had asked why Voldemort had tried to force Draco to call a dragon. The witch had been pressed lipped and the wizard had denied vehemently the existence of anything resembling dragons. Upon his insistence they finally had admitted that Draco was in possession of a source of power that the Dark Lord had been looking for, for years. No one had explained how the boy had acquired such power to begin with, or what it was exactly. All Harry knew was that whatever it was, it was consuming Draco's magic at an alarming rate and without the support of Harry's magic it would likely kill him.

Of course, the Gryffindor boy had demanded that something get done about it, but all he had gotten for his troubles had been a shook of heads and the sentence that there was nothing to do, but to let Draco's core feed from the magic around him and wait. Harry was absolutely not happy with such state of things.

He looked at Draco again and walked to stand by his side. He ran his fingers a couple of times through the blond hair and sighed again. On the two days that hey had been in the room, Draco had waked up sporadically, always confused and afraid, anxious for his baby and sometimes even calling for help. Harry had managed to calm him down every time and put him to sleep again. He had not eaten or stayed awake for more than 10 minutes and Harry was extremely worried for him.

He scanned the pale face and considered that it looked more peaceful. That at least was an improvement. He sat besides the sleeping figure and started messing his hair, while thinking about what to do. Snape had been supposedly looking for a safe place for them, but he didn't trust the man. No matter that Mrs. Witters had explained how Dumbledore had planned his own death, he still thought Snape had not had a hard time complying.

A low moan pulled him out of his thoughts and he turned to see Draco's eyes flutter open, for the first time in two days without utter fear in them. Harry sighed in relief and put himself into Draco's line of vision. The blond focused on him and half-smiled.

"Hi."

"Um… Harry…"

"How are you feeling?"

"I don't know… tired." Draco's sight roamed around the room and his eyes narrowed. He sat upright with some help. "Where are we?"

"It's a long story. We were rescued by some kind of crazy Secret Association and we're in what appears to be their secret base, or something like that." Said Harry.

Draco looked baffled at him and looked again at the room and the glowing walls.

"We… are here? But… how?"

"Not so secret to you I see." Harry arched his eyebrows and Draco blushed in embarrassment.

"I have been here before… Assuming that this is the same place I know, I don't remember seeing any rooms. But maybe it isn't because I do remember someone telling me that you weren't allowed in."

"Well, apparently I am now. Something to do with you feeding from my magic, or so they tell me."

Draco was even more embarrassed and covered his face with his hands.

"Oh gods. Harry I'm so sorry…!"

"Hey." The Gryffindor boy took Draco's hands and forced him to look into his eyes. "It's ok. You didn't ask for this, that much is clear. I don't know how this happened or why, but it seems that your magical core is weakening and it's pulling magic from viable sources."

Draco trembled slightly, and nodded to the other boy. He was still waiting for an angry reaction on Harry's part, but he understood that the boy couldn't know everything yet. He sighed and put his hands over his belly.

"It's because of this. I'm not supposed to be able to get pregnant, and I know it's consuming my magic." He gulped and closed his eyes, trying to feel Sally. He couldn't reach her. Her energy was gone. He gave a shaky breath and opened his eyes again. "Harry… I-I… I'm not gonna make it, I…"

"Sht. Don't talk like that. You're gonna be fine. There is a mediwizard here that seems to know how to attend you, and this is a special place. They say that it has powerful magic and that it will help you recover. We can't stay here for long because apparently it has some kind of protection and it'll banish us in a week, more or less, but they are looking for some other place where you can be safe. And it seems that you can return here as many times as you want."

Harry hugged Draco tightly and the blond boy sobbed. It would not be enough. Sally was too weak and his magic wasn't going to be able to maintain the bond with the dragon and the pregnancy at the same time. It was going to kill them. Harry's hands dried his tears tenderly and Draco felt totally lost.

"I'm scared Harry. I may never see my child…"

"You will. I'm here Draco. I won't leave you. My magic is going to help you, and Voldemort is not going to find us again. We are going to find a place for you to recover and then you'll be strong once more. Don't give up Draco. Please."

The blond cried quietly for some minutes, feeling the warm of Harry's body around him. The Gryffindor's hands on his hair and belly were comforting and he wished that the circumstances were different. After a while, Draco's stomach churned and the boy bit his lower lip.

"Sorry. I think I'm hungry."

"Good. I was starting to worry. You were practically unconscious for two days. It's about time that you feed."

Harry helped Draco to lie down comfortably amongst the pillows and stood up.

"I'm going to look for someone and ask for food. You'll be ok for a while?"

Draco nodded and watched as Harry exited the room cautiously, in search for the mediwizard.

The black-haired boy found himself in a big corridor full of portraits, all the people in them were sleeping. He walked along it without paying much attention to the portraits, and asking himself if the eerie glowing in the walls was because of the accumulation of magic in the place. He had not walked long when he perceived voices ahead of him. He started to go faster and eventually found a set of stairs. The voices came from downstairs, so he hurried to climb down and arrived to what looked like an enormous chamber. He looked around in awe for a moment. It was bigger than the Chamber of Secrets. A few paces from him were two armchairs, where Salamanca and Snape were talking. No one had noticed him yet. The boy listened intently to the conversation. They were saying something about Lucius Malfoy.

* * *

Severus was almost growling when he arrived to the chamber. They had dared to destroy the house at Spinners end! The Prince's manor was now back to its original location. Still unplotable, but not as safe as it used to be. Nott had barely been able to get his family out of his own home before the Death Eaters attacked.

The Dark Lord had finally understood that they had something to do with the dragons, and was furious. He had sent some of his Death Eaters to capture Severus. The potions master scoffed. The idiots were no better than a bunch of troublesome doxys! But Snape had been able to extract information from them. And it was very interesting news indeed. He needed to confirm them immediately. They might have a chance to secure a hiding place for Draco. They had to hurry, because if they were forced to get the boy out of the chamber without a powerful house to go to, Draco might not be strong enough to continue the pregnancy.

He found Salamanca on the chamber, sitting on an armchair and reading. She put the book down as soon as she noticed him and lifted an eyebrow in askance.

"What's the matter Severus?"

The man conjured another armchair and took a seat.

"The Dark Lord is getting desperate. He sent the Carrows and Rozzier to catch me. He thinks he knows all my hiding places."

"What about Nott?"

"He's safe for now. But we have to keep moving, so they won't get the chance to find us. However, I was able to trap Rozzier and I got interesting information."

The woman moved her head indicating for him to proceed. Severus started talking.

"It seems like Draco's little reprisal in Grimmauld place had more than a few consequences. We felt that he was trying to absorb as much magic as he could manage, and apparently the ones that were closer to him were the most affected."

"How much could they have been? Mr. Potter didn't seem too weak."

"Potter was already giving a good deal of magic. But I have the impression that his core resisted when Draco tried to suck an even greater amount of it from one second to the other. It could also have been conscious on Draco's part to try and stop the oncoming flow of magic from Potter, so to not damage him. Whatever had happened, the fact is that Draco needed the magic in great quantity for him to attack in the way he did. If we are to believe Potter's claims, he was able to manifest his dragon, which would have called for a great effort on his part."

"That's very likely. Do you know how much damage that did to You-know-who?"

"I'm not sure. Rozzier only babbled about the Dark Lord being mighty furious that the boy had escaped him again. He seems to be under the impression that Riddle was referring to Potter."

"Not enough damage to leave him unconscious then. What about the others? According to Mr. Potter, the Lestranges and Draco's father were there."

"That's where the interesting part comes. Rozzier had not seen any of the four Death Eaters that were in the room when Draco retaliated. And no one is brave enough to ask the Dark Lord directly. There are rumours among the Death Eaters that they are probably dead. Specially Lucius Malfoy."

Salamanca raised her eyebrows in interest.

"Why would they believe that? Surely Riddle has no need to hide his follower's deaths. Unless he's planning something?"

"That might be, but I have my reservations. The rumours were started by the fact that apparently the Malfoy's house-elves had evicted everyone out of the property and had closed it. Much like Hogwarts."

Salamanca made a curious gesture.

"That's… odd."

"If Lucius is indeed dead, maybe we could use the manor. If Draco is strong enough to perform the necessary spell we'll be able to transform it, like the Prince's manor."

"But Severus, the boy is in no condition to do anything like that!"

"That's right! Draco is not going to do anything that could risk him!"

Snape and Salamanca turned around to find Harry looking angrily at them. Snape narrowed his eyes.

"Potter! How long have you been overhearing?"

"Long enough to tell that you're barking mad Snape! Malfoy manor is one of Voldemort's strongholds! Whatever makes you think that we can just go and enter it? Even if Lucius is dead, which would be certainly a welcome notice, I'm sure that Riddle is not going to let go of it!"

Snape fought to remain calm, but he couldn't prevent himself from sneering at the boy.

"He won't have other choice. He can't enter it. Malfoy manor is very old. At one time it was capable to house up to five house-elves, though at the moment it only has two. It is attuned to the family and the magic answers only to the Head. The fact that the house-elves have thrown out everyone means that the Head of the family has changed, and they are waiting for instructions from the new Head. The wards of the property won't let anyone inside if the Master hasn't approved of."

"And do you seriously think that that is going to stop Voldemort? He broke the fidelius charm! He can as well tear the wards apart!"

"That would take time, and he's now pretty much occupied. He believes that you'd go to your friends and that you'd take Draco with you. That's why Moody has been moving from one place to the other along with them!"

"Severus." Interrupted Salamanca. "The boy may have a point. How long do you think it would take You-know-who to suspect that the Malfoy boy may try to return to his home?"

"We can do the spell. With our help Draco will be more than capable of it. We only need a few minutes and Malfoy manor will be a wandering building."

Harry put on an incredulous face.

"What on earth does that mean?"

"It means that we will be able to move it from one location to other. It makes it unplotable as it won't be attached to one specific location." Said Snape condescendingly.

"Why can't we do that with other house? Even better, with a building for the rebels! Or even St. Mungo's!"

"It is very special magic. It does not work for everyone, or for whatever building you decide! You must be a pureblood and the Head of the family. Also, the only building you can affect with the spell is your ancestral home. Which by the way must be old enough to at least have housed seven generations. The spell is oral tradition. Some families have it written on personal diaries that the Head passes along with valuable heirlooms, intended only for the heir. Many have already lost it. The manor would be ideal in the state Draco is. We have to put him in a place that would continue feeding his magical core. His ancestral home is in fact the most convenient choice!"

The last words he spoke directly to Salamanca, summarily ignoring Harry. The boy clenched his fists, but whatever he was going to say was interrupted by the witch saying:

"That is truth, but we may proceed cautiously Severus. It'll not do to risk the boy unnecessarily. By the way, is he awake now Mr. Potter?"

Harry started, remembering the reason why he was downstairs to begin with.

"Oh, yeah! Draco's awake. He looks better, and he's hungry."

Snape was on his feet in an instant, and walking hurriedly towards the stairs.

"Why didn't you say it earlier boy?"

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

Harry was ready to stop Severus' advance, but Salamanca grabbed his arm gently.

"Wait! Harry, he's genuinely worried about Draco. He won't hurt him. I know that you don't trust him, or any of us yet, but please believe me when I say that we mean no harm to either of you."

Harry moved uncomfortably under the woman's gaze. He looked at Snape's retreating figure and a shiver ran down his spine. He disentangled himself from the woman's grasp carefully, and spoke in a clear voice.

"I'm sorry. That may be true, but you are not telling me many things, and I still am not comfortable leaving the man that killed Dumbledore alone with Draco and my child."

He turned around and practically ran to catch up with Snape. Salamanca sighed in resignation looking at him.

"We're so close. Soon you'll be one of us. Then you'd understand."

She turned around and went in search of something light for Draco to eat and drink. She imagined that the boy should be thirsty too.

Snape checked up Draco while Potter stood at the other side of the bed, watching the man's every move like a hawk. When Salamanca arrived with the food Harry had backed of a bit, due to Draco looking glad that Snape was there, but he didn't relax. The potions master frowned at the weakness of the blonde's boy magic and suggested that the mediwizard see to him. He gave him some potions that Harry looked suspiciously at, but Draco ingested without question.

While the Slytherin boy was eating what little food he could stomach, Snape explained again the situation with Malfoy manor, and the rumours about Lucius death. The boy was wary of the subject. At first he didn't want to believe that his father could be dead, but there really was no other reason for the elves apparently acting against Lucius' specific instructions. He agreed to try to open the portal to the manor, which was one of the many still closed, so Snape could go and investigate.

Salamanca was still dubious about Draco's strength. The boy looked really pale, and she could notice him wincing slightly from time to time. He finished the plate of soup with some effort, and by the time that it was decided that Snape would go to the manor the next day, the boy was struggling to keep his eyes open. Harry noticed this too, and was quick to get both adults out of the room, so he could see to Draco's needs. Snape was indignant, but Salamanca told him that they should discuss more about his venture into the manor, and the convenience of not going alone, as there was still the possibility of a trap. They left the room, and Harry helped Draco to walk to the bathroom, and pampered him for a while before the blond was sound asleep again.


	24. Opening

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Chapter 23****. Opening.**

Voldemort heard in aggravation the pitiful screams of the prisoners as he crucioed them. He was furious. Already five days and not a trace of the Malfoy boy could be found! Bellatrix continued in coma and he couldn't get from her the information he needed to track down the people who might be helping the boy. The rest of the Death Eaters that had accompanied him were notoriously weak, Greyback included, and Lucius… He rather not thought about Lucius. Callous Nott and Snape had also vanished, and while he had and idea of where Nott could have hidden his family, Snape was the one he wanted to put his hands on.

Once, Bella had mentioned a place that all the dragon bonded could enter. Where the portal was. She had never been able to take him there as the doors she used to enter simply disappeared whenever others apart from her were around. Not even polyjuice could fool the blasted doors. He had sealed that portal, and he had assumed that no one would be able to enter the place where it had been located, but it was possible that the boy could have found a way into it. After all he owned the last Rainbow Dragon.

Voldemort raged. It should be him the one having that dragon! The creature's power should be his! He had had such plans! With that dragon and the horcruxes that guaranteed him immortality he could become more than a simple wizard. Why, he could be a God! The Dark Lord seethed in fury at the thought that a simple child was standing in his way. It incensed him to think that he had spent years looking for the elusive dragon, thinking that the Potter boy was the one to have it, for surely that was the power that he supposedly knew not. And what other way could there be for the brat to have survived the Avada Kedabra?

And it had turned out that the creature had always been there. At his immediate reach! He could have only asked Lucius for his son when the brat had been borne and he would have had the dragon! Stupid misleading prophesy! And Bellatrix! She had been stupid also. Not telling him every single detail. Not telling him all the names he needed. Letting Snape pass unnoticed! It was as if she had betrayed him herself!

Voldemort abandoned the dungeons where a few rebels were still convulsing in agony and went to his rooms. He needed to think. Britain was already his. The few groups that still foolishly opposed him had been scattered and were weak and divided. His reign was starting to take shape. Soon he will be able to open the isle and resist the probable retaliation from the rest of the wizarding nations. They'll have no choice but to recognize his rule over wizarding Britain and then he will plot the better way to conquer them all. All the nations will tremble before him!

The fact that the wizarding world was not good at diplomatic relationships will work for his intentions. Each country was an isolated unity and everyone preferred to be let alone and in peace to govern as they saw fit. As far as the wizarding world was concerned, international relationships were non-existent; except for a few cases concerning Quidditch, races, and the protection of some magical creatures. The Triwizard tournament had been the most that some governments had been willing to engage in to show interest on international competition that didn't involve brooms. But if some country was facing political troubles, the rest just stood by and let it face the music alone. That had happened the first time that Voldemort had tried to raise to power, and it was happening at the present moment. Grindewald had had more attention, but that was because he had stupidly raised a World War, getting the muggles into the mess before securing his own power. Voldemort wasn't going to commit the same mistake. When the rest of the nations realized his intentions to govern them, it'll be already too late.

But to secure his victory he needed to be mighty powerful. Immortality wasn't enough. He was already the most powerful wizard in history, of that he was sure, but he needed more. He needed complete control over magic. The kind of power that could create and destroy worlds. He had spent years researching, looking for ways to achieve such power, and no one was going to stop him!

He thought again about the Malfoy boy and wondered. Where could he have run to? Potter was with him, but he had already searched every possible hide out that the Order of the Phoenix had. It was very convenient to have a spy other than Snape amongst the enemy ranks. Still, this time his prevention was fruitless. The only place that was not inspected was Hogwarts, but the castle was still closed, or at least it appeared to be so. He had gone every day and looked for every entrance. There was no way in. Another remote possibility was the very place where the portal had once been, in the event that it had not been destroyed when the ritual had closed the magical portal, but even then, Bellatrix had assured him that only a dragon-bonded could enter the place, he himself had confirmed it. And no one but the blond boy had a dragon-bond anymore. Surely Potter had not left the boy alone, not in his… peculiar condition. That was a thing that sincerely mystified the Dark Lord. How on Earth had the Malfoy boy managed to get pregnant? And why in Merlin's name would he want to do such a thing? Someone was plotting something, and Voldemort wanted to know what it was!

He decided to order vigilance on every place that might serve of hiding out. Even the most unlikely. He had to find that dragon soon. Supreme power was just around the corner, and he was not going to miss it.

* * *

In the end, Harry insisted on going with Snape. He didn't trust the man as far as he could throw him, and he wanted to make sure that he wasn't playing any tricks on them. Besides, he really needed to get out; he was getting desperate with the lack of activity. He was prepared to oversee the fact that he and Snape would likely kill each other the moment they were outside the chamber. He was ready to accept any risk that would take for him to get some action. He also was tired of being the only one who was never told about the important things. He felt like he was being made fun of, and he was intent to stop it. So now, he decided, he will go with Snape and he will see what the situation in Malfoy manor was first hand. He was not going to give Snape the chance to keep more secrets, and he was going to be the one to decide if the manor was safe enough for Draco or not.

Snape protested that Potter's company was unnecessary, and that he would be a liability in case of danger. But Salamanca pointed out how restless the boy had been, and that it would be wise for him to get out of the chamber for a while, so they could have a bit more time if things didn't go smoothly with the manor. Snape grunted and accepted the Gryffindor tagging along unhappily.

Draco didn't like Harry going either. He wasn't feeling well, and was extremely nervous. Since he had woken up he had tried to reach Sally. He could not feel her, but he knew that she was deep inside him. However, he was getting increasingly worried. He could feel his core fighting to maintain its levels of magic and not depleting. He feared that the energy of the spell that had bound him and Sally was about to end, and he won't have any chances of survival if it did.

Also, he had been nursing a stomachache since the previous day and the dizziness would not go away. He didn't want to worry the Gryffindor boy, but he was afraid of staying apart from him for too long. He had the irrational fear that something bad was going to happen if Harry went away. But he understood that soon the magic of the chamber was going to force them to leave and they needed a place to go. He doubted about the safety of Malfoy manor, but if they could somehow made sure that the Dark Lord was no longer allowed inside it, and if they could manage to ward it, then he was more than willing to return to it.

Still, why did Harry have to insist on going? Draco wanted to scream at the boy to stop been so suspicious and just let the adults solve the problem. But Harry was not like that. He had been lied to so many times that trust was something he didn't give easily. He just had to have some measure of control or he was going to snap soon. Draco had had no other choice but to accept that Harry needed to go, and had assured the Gryffindor that he was going to take care of himself and follow the mediwizard's recommendations.

Truth be told, he felt like utter shit. He was only out of the room because he had to be present, so the portal could open. Besides, he wanted to see the other boy leave and show him that he was in perfect health, so Harry could rest and focus on the task of securing the manor.

A small group of people was with them when they stood in front of the glowing portal that had the Malfoy cot of arms on the threshold. Snape and Harry would be able to enter the manor without danger of being discovered. They'll find the elves and gave them Draco's instructions. The blond boy looked worriedly at the portal. He was aware that he was walking slowly and that his legs felt like they were going to gave in. He tried to look as normal as possible and hide his discomfort, so Harry would not worry about him.

He knew that he could make Harry stay, but the black-haired boy was going to be restless and questioning Severus' motives. He would make the decision to go hide into the manor more difficult than needed. Draco had decided that it was easier to let Harry go and see for himself that Severus was not going to backstab them.

He was telling himself that it was going to be only for a short time, and that Harry will be back within the day. But he couldn't stop the anxiety watching the portal glow in front of them and Snape and Salamanca agreeing on last minute precautions. He clenched Harry's hand nervously and the Gryffindor turned to look at him.

"Will you be fine Draco?"

"Yes. Don't worry. Just be sure to be back soon, please."

"As soon as I'm sure of the safety of the place. I've been talking to the mediwizard, and he tells me that you'll be much better in there because it's your ancestral home and its magic is more compatible with yours."

"You're thinking an awful lot about my well-being."

"I made a promise to you. I don't trust these people enough, but they apparently want to prevent Voldemort from gaining more power. We are pretty much stuck with them until I can find and destroy the last artefact. May as well take their help, and if we are successful and Malfoy manor turns out to be a good and safe hiding place, then we can bring the others in and maybe set some kind of headquarters for the rebellion. Then we'll be less dependent on these people's good will."

Draco pressed his lips. Harry hated to have to depend on others. Especially when they were virtual strangers, and at least one of them was a person that he loathed. Draco sighed and Harry took his chin tenderly.

"Are you sure you'll be ok? You look pale."

Severus' voice announced that they had to get going, and Harry looked at Draco's eyes worriedly. The blond boy had for a moment the urge to ask Harry to stay with him. But he berated himself. He was being irrational, Harry was not abandoning him, and Snape would work faster with the help. He shook his head and tried to sound reassuring. He ignored the dull pain in his stomach that was increasing.

"I'm fine. I'm only tired, and I think I need something to eat."

Harry frowned and looked around. Salamanca, Paraximedes and two other wizards were there. He directed his words to the witch.

"He should go rest."

The woman smiled and put a hand on Draco's back. The boy felt his legs like jelly, but he forced himself to make a last effort. Harry kissed his temple.

"I'll be back soon."

"Go on Mr. Potter. We'll take care of him."

With a final look to Draco, Harry crossed the portal, followed closely by Snape, who also looked at the Slytherin boy and gave a significant glance to Paraximedes before going.

Draco looked longingly at the portal for a moment. Then Salamanca softly pulled him and he started walking towards the stairs. The witch frowned. Draco looked like he had trouble walking. When they reached the stairs, and the boy looked upwards the dizziness made his sight swam. He gasped and grabbed the railing with a hand. His legs were trembling. Salamanca was concerned.

"Draco, what's wrong?"

"I-I don't feel very well. I don't think I can climb the stairs."

Sudden stabs of pain in his stomach made him double over and moan. The mediwizard was beside him immediately, casting diagnostic spells. Someone put a vial of potion in front of him, and he gulped all of its contents. The pain receded a bit, and suddenly he found himself being carried on someone's arms. He no longer cared. He just wanted to fall unconscious and will every problem in his life away.

* * *

Severus and Harry were confronted with a set of stairs that took them to a narrow door. They opened it and found themselves inside a walk-in closet. Harry at first thought that it was a small storage room, because it was dark and he could not see clearly what the shadowy lumps around him were. Then Snape had illuminated the room and Harry nearly gaped at the actual size of it. The entire Gryffindor room could fit in the place! The ceiling was low, but there were clothes covering two walls, and a third had lines of shoes and accessories. Harry frowned at a full size mirror and was thinking uncharitable things about Lucius Malfoy's vanity when he realized that everything was woman's clothing. Snape scoffed.

"This is Narcissa's closet. The master bedroom should be at the other side of that door. Unless they have separate bedrooms. Some purebloods still use to do it."

Harry rolled his eyes and followed Snape out of the closet. They ended up in a big bedroom, with forest green and golden tapestries. An entire wall was covered by tick blood red curtains and there were rich carpets over the floor. The central piece was a king-sized bed. The headboard was richly carved with serpents and flowers, which Harry thought odd. The covers were blue with strange figures in brown. A huge dresser was in front of the bed with a mirror which mahogany frame was in the shape of a phoenix. The dresser was full of little fairy figurines, boxes of porcelain with small jewels, bottles of perfume and other necessities for women. Snape frowned.

"Narcissa's room then. Let's see the rest of the manor."

"Strange place for a secret portal if she's not part of all this."

"The room surely was occupied by the last of the Malfoy's that…" Snape's voice suddenly vanished, and the man scowled in annoyance. He thought for a moment and changed his words. "It has been a long time since there was a Malfoy with 'remarkable' power. Surely the order of the rooms had changed since then. I seriously doubt that Narcissa had ever been aware of the door in her closet."

Harry looked at the room suspiciously, and then he shrugged and followed Snape into the hall. Two house-elves appeared in front of them immediately, demanding to know how they had gotten into the property. Harry presented Draco's wand, while Severus took out the message that the blond boy had written with instructions for the elves to assist them in whatever they required. The little creatures were supposedly able to identify Draco's magical signature from both the wand and the written message. The two elves frowned at the parchment and at Severus. Once they had been used to the man coming and going along with their previous Master, but he had stopped his visits some time ago. They related him with Lucius "associates" and were fearful that their new master would want to continue with such company. However, neither of them spoke their fears aloud. They recognized Draco's letter and disposed themselves to comply with their master's wishes.

Snape suggested that they searched the manor, looking for traces of dark magic or possible traps that the Death Eaters may have left behind. He instructed the house-elves to show them primarily the rooms that the Death Eaters had occupied, specially the Dark Lord. The implication that they were there to secure the manor and procure that it was free from the Death Eaters' influence eased considerably the elves' fears, and the little creatures hurried to do what the wizard had ordered.

While they were going over the ballroom, Harry asked the house-elves something that had been nagging at his mind.

"I'm curious, how do you know that Lucius is dead?"

The elves flattened their ears and seemed to sneer. Snape didn't reprimand the boy because he too was interested in the answer. One of the elves disappeared for a moment and returned clutching something in his hands.

"House joining family many generations. Heads making magic bonding with them. They making a ring. Family heirloom, very powerful."

"Ring is here now. It came alone. Means that Head of family changing. Previous orders no longer valid. Master Draco needing ring to master house wards. Master Draco needing coming fast."

The elves gave the ring to Snape, who checked it for hexes and traps. He didn't want to give Draco a portkey. It was a simple ring, silver with the cot of arms engraved. Once he was satisfied that the piece of jewellery was not dangerous he pocketed it, ignoring Harry's deathly glare.

"We'll make sure that he gets it. Now let's finish with this."

They continued going through the house, making sure to dispose of everything that the Dark Lord or the Death Eaters might have left behind.

* * *

Draco groaned in pain again. He was lying on a divan that someone had conjured near the stairs in the main chamber. The mediwizard had checked him up, and had not liked the results. The strengthening potions were no longer making a difference and he could feel his core trying unsuccessfully to pull more magic into him. He was working himself into a panic. There was a feeling of sudden emptiness inside him and he could only relate it to Sally. He tried with all his might to find the connection with her, to feel it flaring, even if it was weakly. He was half-listening to the conversation around him, and didn't like the way things were going.

"His body is under so much stress. It's trying to change again."

"That can't happen now! What about his dragon?"

"I can't feel the dragon's aura anymore. It probably has gone dormant and its magic is no longer supporting the boy's."

"What should we do? Do we bring Mr. Potter back?"

"It won't make any difference. The connection that is missing is the dragon's. Nor Mr. Potter or any of us can supply it."

"But there must be something we can do!

"We have little choice. Without his dragon's help he won't be able to keep his body stable. He had had so much stress as it is. He needs to recover strength, so he could summon the bond again. A male-pregnancy is not possible while the bond is dormant."

"So, he's going to lose the child and start over again?" Said one of the other men anxiously. "How long would it be for him to recover enough to sustain the bond with his dragon?"

"I don't know. We really ignore the nature of the spell that confined the dragon in him. His bond activated when his magic was reaching its peak, so I suppose that he has to regain at least that much strength for the bond to be active again."

Draco closed his eyes painfully. It was not going to work. Sally was not going to wake up again. The magic of the original bond that Sally's mother had created had been consumed. The only thing that could save her was to open the portal between worlds, so she could be free of his body and go to the dragon realm to mature. Another strong wave of pain hit him and he cried. The mediwizard hurried to his side.

"There's nothing we can do. I have some potions to help him, they'd make the process easier."

Draco grabbed the sleeve of the mediwizard's robe and tried to concentrate on forming words rather than the pain.

"N-no… please… I-I have to…"

Salamanca sat down at his side, and gently caressed his fevered forehead.

"Easy Draco. My boy, it's for the best. It'll be better for you to recover, to get stronger, now you can't possibly sustain your baby."

"N-no… Y-you don't… understand… I-I won't get better…"

"You will Draco. We'll find the way to protect you and then…"

"People? We have a serious problem." Another man interrupted. Salamanca turned to look at him.

"What is it Horace?"

"The passages. They're closed."

The witch and the other two wizards were momentarily stunned.

"What?" The woman breathed. Paraximedes went to confirm the man's asseveration.

"It's true. We're trapped!"

"Of course." Said the other man. "His dragon had truly gone dormant again. There's no dragon energy to call to the magic in the portals."

"It's like the first time. When the dragon died and hide its cub, the portals immediately closed. Only there was no one inside the chamber at the time."

"Yes, that's true Horace. But now… What are we going to do? We have to find a way to get the boy out of here!" Salamanca was now upset. This was definitely bad. The other man spoke.

"Why we don't try the ritual?"

Everyone looked at him in consternation. He shrugged.

"The boy is in the seventh month. The child can be borne."

"But Augustus, there is only a slim chance for the baby to survive."

"It's still a chance. If his or her magic is as strong as we hoped then it'd make it. It's really the only choice we have, none of us will survive in here long enough for the boy to recover his standard level of magic again. As you said Paraximedes, there's no telling how long it will take."

"We won't have another chance." Said Horace, looking remorseful. "We were careless. We should have go with Severus and risk the possibility of having to confront a trap. Now it's all lost!"

"Not all. I insist! We can provide enough energy for the boy to give birth. We have all we need for the ritual. It has all been prepared since we knew of the boy's pregnancy!"

Draco trembled in fear, but he tried to sit up. The mediwizard tried to stop him.

"Draco, stay quiet. You don't have to…"

"No! I have to! We won't get out of here any other way… We'll die here and we'll take the wizarding world with us… Ooow!"

Another wave of pain and he could feel wetness between his legs. He pressed his lips together and felt a strange sense of detachment. He was in too much pain to be embarrassed. Salamanca helped him to sit and was partially supporting him while talking with the others.

"Paraximedes, do you think he can make it?"

"We in St. Mungo's have saved five months new born children. The baby has a chance if we help to sustain Draco's body long enough for him to finish the delivery."

"And do you think it would be enough for the ritual?"

"I don't see why not. The ritual is actually simple. It doesn't specify a certain number of people to take part on it, besides the one giving birth. We should be enough."

"We must be enough!" Said Augustus. "We have no other choice!"

"Draco." Salamanca still looked worriedly at the boy. "Are you sure?"

"Let's just bloody get it over with!" Said the boy exasperatedly. It was not as if she was really worried about him, and it was a very bad moment to start feeling guilty for his condition.

Salamanca sighed and understood the sentiment. She and Paraximedes helped Draco and got him ready to begin the process.

* * *

Snape knew that something was wrong. He had known since he had last looked at Draco and the feeling had only increased. It was a sensation of foreboding at the back of his mind. He stopped his search of the dungeons and looked worriedly to the exit. He noticed that Potter had started to walk towards it. The boy had a frown on his face and was restless. Snape tried to suppress the urge to snap at the young man. Instead, he walked towards the door that lead back to the manor's cellars. There was little more they could do anyway. They had spent nearly two hours wandering the manor and his unease would not go away. The house was as safe as it could possibly be. The wards had to be resettled, but he needed Draco's presence to do that.

Harry was walking faster. The look on his face was one of pure concern.

"Calm down Potter. We'll be returning soon enough." He said, partly to also reassure himself. The boy shook his head and looked at him. Snape didn't like the fear he saw in Potter's eyes.

"Something's wrong professor. Something's really, really wrong!"

Snape scowled at the boy and wondered if he could feel Draco more strongly than the rest of them. He didn't entirely like that thought.

"Could you be more specific Potter?"

The boy stopped, and clenched and unclenched his hands a couple of times. A perplexed expression was on his face.

"I… I don't know, I just… It's just that I have this feeling that someone is calling for me… And I just know it's Draco, I'm sure and I don't know why! And now I'm not making any sense and it just sounds stupid!"

The boy stomped to return to the lasts cells of the dungeon, feeling frustrated and angry with himself. But Snape paused to consider the young man's words. The boy had a deep connection with Draco. Much deeper in fact than they had been expecting. The bond between them was almost as strong as one created by a mating ritual. And he remembered how weak and unstable Draco had been. The blond boy had not looked good when they had left the chamber. Maybe they should listen to their instincts and just return.

Snape walked decidedly to the exit door and called for Harry, saying that there was nothing more they could do to safeguard the manor. The boy was walking alongside him in an instant.

The potions master was horrified when he realized that he couldn't feel the flow of magic in Narcissa's room. There should be a certain amount of power emanating from the Chamber's door. There always was. He hurried to the closet and stopped right in front of the place where they had come out. The wall looked plain and unmarred. There was nothing that could tell of the existence of a door. Snape paled dramatically and put his hands over the wall.

"No… It can't be…"

"What's this? Where's the door?" Asked Harry, looking like he wanted to hex the wall. Snape retreated a few steps, feeling numb.

"It's closed. There's not enough magic to keep it open." He started to explain to himself. He wanted a reason why the door was closed again. Any explanation but the one that was the most probable. "Yes, that should be it. The magic in the chamber is been used to keep Draco well. Surely they closed the portals to save energy."

He didn't pause to consider the fact that it was highly improbable that magic accumulated for centuries was spent in a matter of days by a boy. In no way Draco could have assimilated that kind of ancient power in so short a time. But he put those rational thoughts aside and stubbornly clung to his own weak explanation. Harry was a step from uncontrolled panic.

"What? Well, do something! We have to get in somehow!"

Snape frowned and with trembling hands he sent Potter away, just to confirm that it was not his presence the reason why the portal had decided to close. Harry did as told distrustfully, but even when the closet door had closed firmly behind him there was no change on the wall. Snape touched it again, murmuring ritual words in vain. Finally he just turned around and with hurried steps he went out of the closet and the room. He passed a frantic Potter on the hall and continued his way to the front doors of the manor. Potter's voice carried to him in nearly a yell.

"Professor! Where are you going? What are we going to do! We need to return!"

"There's nothing we can do here." He answered through gritted teeth. "I need an entrance I can open with my magic."

"What? And where is that?"

Snape paused. He had intended to go to his own home, but Potter could not enter Prince's manor. He raged for a second against his bloody ancestors who had built the manor in a way that no one that was not a Prince for blood or marriage could enter it. Then he made an effort to calm himself. Potter couldn't enter the house per se, but he could get into the grounds. They could take the cellar door and be directly under the manor without the boy actually stepping inside the building. The cellar had been constructed after the wards had been woven into the manor's stones. He started walking again.

"We'll aparate to Prince manor. There's another door there, and it's attuned to my magic. I should be able to open it."

Harry followed him, asking what was going to happen if that door was also closed. Snape refused to answer. He was busy convincing himself that the Prince's door will be open. The alternative would mean that something had happened to Draco's bond with his dragon and Snape really didn't want to imagine what exactly that something could be.

Both wizards got out of the manor with barely an assurance to the house elves that they were going to retrieve Draco and that they'll bring him home as soon as possible. Snape started crossing the grounds, aiming for the entrance to the property. He couldn't reset the wards, so they had to walk out of them to be able to aparate. They exited by the main door and Snape hurried to where he knew was the apparition point. He was so worried and Potter so anxious, that neither of them remembered to be cautious. So, when the hexes came they were nearly hit. Only sheer luck and quick reflexes saved them from been instantly captured.

Confused and with their nerves on end, they retaliated with all they had. Their attackers were wearing auror robes, but soon three Death Eaters came out of the shadows and Snape and Harry were forced to take cover. Malfoy manor was surrounded by a meadow with scarce trees and prominent rocks. There was a forest in the distance, too far to be of any use. Snape and Harry relied mostly on their ability to fight back and prevent being captured. Snape soon realized that the Death Eaters must have put antiaparition wards over the entire area. Desperation made him fight harder, and together him and Harry were able to keep their attackers at bay. But they needed to think of some way to escape soon, before they got too tired.

* * *

Draco screamed again and focused on pushing. He was in the centre of a five-point star, kneeling on a blanket that was all between him and the cold floor. He had barely noticed the moment they had put him there and didn't know what else was around him. Neither was he paying any attention to the proceedings of the ritual. His only task was to be there and give birth, so he was putting every ounce of his effort into that. He had no more attention to spare. There was something hovering above his head and Draco had clung to it and squeezed strongly as the waves of pain shocked his body. He was slightly worried that the thing would break and then he'll be left without any support to keep him from falling.

He could not believe that the delivery process could last hours, as he had been informed by Hermione. The girl also had made him read the few books about pregnancy that Mrs. Weasley had managed to snatch from her house. Everywhere was specified the frequency of the contractions and the baby's development with the many positions it could be inside the womb. How mother and baby should be positioned in order to make the delivery easiest and many techniques to do it correctly. Nowhere had said how much pain was involved!

Draco thought he was going to die. Fortunately, the people taking care of him had actually been desperate enough to have everything prepared way before hand. The ritual was in fact easy, and they had had brewed the necessary potions that would accelerate the delivery process, so instead of having to endure the pain for several hours, Draco got to give birth in forty minutes. Those were the longest forty minutes of his life. He swore that if he survived he would never complain of anything to his mother. The whole experience had given him a renewed love for Narcissa Malfoy, and he intended to make her happy for the rest of her life. If he survived. Which was looking more unlikely by the minute.

He screamed again and felt clearly something coming through between his legs. It stayed there and Draco felt that he had no more energy to continue pushing. He was drenched in sweat and desperate to get more air into his lungs. However, the potions they had made him take will not allow his body to stop. Another contraction came by. It seemed stronger and to last way longer than every other before. Draco was about to black out. His ears were buzzing and the only thing he could see around him was light. Brilliant, blinding light. His screams grew stronger, and for a second he wondered if he was actually hearing himself or some other noise, far away from him, that could easily be more screams, crying, or a loud and distant roar.

* * *

Harry was getting tired. They had managed to resist for several minutes already, and their enemies were frustrated and angry at their inability to break Severus' perfect defence. They were against an auror and two death eaters now. They had already incapacitated three of the attackers. But they won't last much longer, and the death eaters seemed to know it, renewing the force of their attack.

Harry's mind was trying to find a way to escape, when suddenly he froze. There was… something. Someone was screaming. He had the feeling that the world had suddenly stopped. He blinked twice in confusion, and Draco's wand flew from his hand. Belatedly he realized that someone had managed to disarm him. He looked at the two men that were approaching him with wands raised, and thought that he could hear Snape yelling at him, but he couldn't move. A sudden fear had taken hold of him and he couldn't explain where it had come from. In the next instant his core started to vibrate and Harry gasped in surprise. His magic was apparently restless. He could feel it running through his body, intensifying. It was odd. For a moment he had the absolute certainty that something was calling and that his magic was answering back.

The death eaters in front of him stopped some meters away from him, still with their wands poised to attack. Then something bizarre happened. The air around them felt charged with energy. There was a sound like something moving fast above them and then the earth under them trembled with enough force to make them almost lost their balance. Harry had time to realize that something big had landed behind him and to appreciate the look of terror on his attackers' faces before a potent roar was heard and a column of purple fire came running mere meters at his side. The screams of terror and pain of Death Eaters and aurors resonated in the meadow.

Harry looked in astonished terror at the purple flames creating an inferno in front of him. He was still frozen to the spot and didn't want to turn around. The loud roar was heard again and that forced him into motion. He jumped to the side and turned, calling automatically Draco's wand to him. He grasped the piece of wood and released it the next second due to it being extremely hot. He cursed under his breath seeing the creature now in front of him. It was a dragon. A full-grown dragon, roughly the size of a Ridgeback, with iridescent scales and wings that were almost translucent. It had two horns on its head and the tail ended in the shape of an arrow. It was black but the iridescence of its scales made it look like there was purple, blue, and gold alternating along its body. It was magnificent. And undoubtedly deathly.

Harry retired a couple of steps, mindful of the flames still roaring and praying to all the gods that the creature just lose interest in him. But then he noticed that the dragon's green eyes were not on him, but on a spot a few paces at his right. Belatedly he sensed Snape walking by him, getting closer to the big creature. Before Harry could yell at him in warning, the man had raised his arms towards the dragon, which had lowered its head. Snape's face had a look that Harry could only classify as pure elation.

"Ah, Obsidian. At last!"

The next instant Severus Snape was hugging, or at least trying to, the Dragon's head. The creature took a relaxed posture and folded its wings, letting the man touch it at his heart's content and making a grumbling noise that could very well be the dragon's equivalent to a purr. Harry stood with his mouth hanging open. His mind resisted to acknowledge the reality of the bizarre image in front of him. He wondered absently if someone had actually managed to curse him and he was hallucinating.

He had no time to think too much about the strange situation. A big shadow passed over the entire scene and seconds after that, another vibration of the ground announced the landing of yet another creature. This time Harry did lose his balance and fell. He tried to turn around quickly and was frozen in terror. It was another dragon, bigger than the first one for a good eight meters, and with the same iridescent scales, only this one seemed to not have a defined colour. It just looked bright and eerie. It had landed practically in the midst of the flames caused by its comrade, and was leaning towards Harry in a way that its head was practically hovering over him.

The boy looked up from his position on the ground to stare into vibrant yellow eyes. He was half sitting on the grass, leaning on his arms to maintain his torso upright, very aware that he was gaping like an idiot. His brain had apparently decided to shut down and he couldn't do anything to comprehend what was going on.

Suddenly, the dragon emitted a low growl and Harry realized that he wanted to get the hell away from there. He started to crawl backwards and the big eyes followed his movement in an unnerving manner. He heard in the background Snape yelling at him.

"Stay where you are Potter!"

Harry wanted to turn around and gape incredulously at the man, but he didn't dare to take his eyes away from the dragon. He snapped back instead.

"Are you crazy? That's a dragon there! We have to get away now!"

The dragon's head got closer and its eyes narrowed. Harry remained still for a moment, trying to quickly calculate his next move before the creature decided to attack him. But the attack came too fast for him to realize what had happened until it was too late. A deep roar and a sudden movement of one of the dragon's legs and sharp talons had slashed Harry's left arm. The resulting gash started to bleed profusely. The boy screamed and lay on the ground, looking in terror as the big head approached him. He tried again to crawl back.

"Remain still Potter! The pain will only last a few moments!"

Well, evidently Snape wanted him to be eaten! Harry threw him an accusatory glance, thinking every foul word about the traitorous bastard, who by the way had not been attacked by any of the two creatures. He was wishing he had Draco's wand to curse the man when a wet and slightly rough tongue lapped once at his bloodied side. Harry yelped in fear and tried once again to get away, but an enormous paw on his way prevented him from doing so. Snape started yelling at him again.

"Potter, you have to take the blood! Lean onto it Potter!"

Harry blinked, absolutely befuddled. The dragon nudged at him with its paw and the boy noticed that it was indeed bloodied. He stared at it, thinking that Snape must have been mad. An impatient growl and another not to kind nudge made him look around in panic.

"Do it Potter! Nobody denies a Dragon! Explanations will come later!"

Another voice, deep and rough was heard and Harry almost went into shock realizing that the dragon was speaking.

**Ignorant! ****Is this how you prepare your hatchlings human? **

"We had no choice!" Answered Snape. If Harry had not already been beyond shocked he would have been bemused at the desperate tone in the man's voice. "We had been cursed. All of us! He has to make the… He has to be one of us for he to be trained!"

**Foolish! Whoever concocted the mad idea of doing things backwards? Wizards I'll never understand!**

Harry was by then convinced that he was having a very bizarre dream. The Death Eaters surely had crucioed him to madness and this was all a joke from his own mind. The lack of blood on his arm, despite the deep slice on it, only confirmed his suspicions. The dragon did something like a snort and put its paw a bit forcefully in front of Harry's face, growling once more.

**You're lucky boy, that you resemble your father at least physically. Even if he was a bit mad himself.**

Harry had not the mental energy to be more surprised. He looked at the blood dripping from the paw and almost mechanically reached for it. Without really thinking what he was doing, he lapped, and the rich coppery flavour invaded his mouth. Almost instantly he felt his magic flaring, growing, reaching outside him. He gasped at the overwhelming feeling and fell backwards. His magic found something. It was powerful and was intertwining with his core. Harry felt lost in a world of energy. He was exploding. Some part of his mind still registered Snape's voice.

"Potter, listen! You must repeat the words! Do it or you will die!"

Harry wondered which words was Snape talking about, but then the same rough voice resonated in his head.

'_**Blood of my blood, running through your veins. May our ancestors' promise be true and our races prevail. As long as magic survives together we shall remain. Until death says otherwise.'**_

Harry repeated the words automatically, and everything around him flared in a multitude of colour.

* * *

Moody was pacing restlessly. He had just gotten rid of Hermione and the twins asking again about Potter's whereabouts. The teens were worried beyond what was reasonable and seemed to think that if they were insistent enough Moody would take them to their friend. The grown-ups were no better. Apparently the only thing that was preventing McGonagall from outright order him to tell them how to contact Harry was that they'd been forced to keep moving from one hideout to another. The Death Eaters seemed also determined to find them, and they wouldn't be paying that much of an effort if Voldemort already had Harry.

He huffed. The place where they were at the moment was some kind of cellar under a house in the outskirts of Grimsby. It was spacious enough, but he felt constricted and claustrophobic. So he directed himself to the door and got out.

He walked around the small yard for a few moments. The feeling of restlessness only got stronger. He looked over to the limits of the property. He knew that they were near to a road, something the muggles called a highway, and there was really nothing to see. There was a line of trees some meters away that hide a small river from view. Everything else was field. He walked towards the trees almost without thinking. Halfway there he started to feel it. His magic. It was flaring. He stopped in his tracks astonished and started to pay attention. His core was humming with magic. He could feel how it was running through his body, increasing in energy. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was magnificent. He was whole again! He concentrated on the trail of energy that was his bond. It was great to be able to feel it again. He experimentally tugged at it and it flared in response. And old and missed presence was grumbling in his mind. Moody felt like scream out loud in elation. He was there again! His beloved dragon was back! But that meant… Shit. Moody released a string of creative curses. He needed to find a gate to the chamber. He needed to see what had happened.

He was about to apparate away when he heard a noise from the nearest bushes. His wand was instantly out and he threw a hex in the noise's direction. Someone squealed and a voice yelled with urgency.

"No! Stop Moody, it is we!"

The twins got out from their hiding place with scowls on their faces. They had both luckily avoided Moody's hex. The man gritted his teeth at them.

"What are you two doing outside? You're supposed to remain in the cellar!"

"You too old man!"

"Yeah! Where are you going?"

"If it's to see Harry we're going too!"

"Yes! We only have your word that he's ok, and quite frankly I'm not sure I believe you!"

Moody huffed in irritation. It had been hard enough to explain how he knew that the Dark Lord had used ancient magic to break the fidelius. He didn't need the Weasley twins following his every step in the hopes that he may lead them to Harry. He was about to send them packing when they heard a strange noise. Like a big bird approaching. He looked up in time to see two big shapes pass above them. Their shadows made the twins look up too and they gaped at what they saw.

Two translucent dragons were making circles in the air. Both of them suddenly dived at the same time and landed some meters away from the group. Their enormous heads turned and one of them roared in a somewhat lazy way. The twins stood there thoroughly dumbfounded. Moody emitted a painful sigh.

"Just my rotten luck that I'd be the one near by when THIS happens to you two! Can't be helped I guess."

Both young men looked at him with equally shocked faces, and Mad Eye snorted.

"Well, don't waste time! You follow my instructions exactly and when we're finished we'll go to find Potter!"

The twins were simply too far into shock to protest.

* * *

Somewhere, Bellatrix woke up with a start. She looked blankly in front of her for long minutes, her mind trying to grasp where she was. Soon a sense of foreboding invaded her, and she screamed in overwhelming terror.


	25. A Little Too Late for Explanations

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Chapter 24****. A Little Too Late for Explanations.**

Harry walked along the corridor to the room that he had shared with Draco with his hands clenched. He was angry. He was beyond angry, he was furious! How dare they! How dare Dumbledore not told him about any of it! Granted, the curse that Regulus Black had unwisely cast would have prevented the old man to be specific, but he could have tried! He could have found a way to tell Harry something! The black-haired Gryffindor knew a lot of things now, some of them he would have preferred to never know.

He reached the right door and stood in front of it, glaring bloody murder at the portraits that were now awake and throwing questions at him. The portraits went silent as soon as they picked on his thunderous mood. Harry gave a deep breath and exhaled noisily. He was trying to process what had happened. After the ordeal outside Malfoy Manor, Snape had somehow taken him to the chamber, which could have not been too bad if not for the big commotion that had been taking place in it.

There had been around forty people there, trying to make sense of what exactly had happened. Harry had been put with a group of other eleven young persons as equally confused as him. He had found the twins and Charlie. They had been exited to see him and had told him about the dragons they had met. No one had known very well what was all about, Charlie had only mentioned that one of the instructors of the reserve where he had been working had looked out for him and had actually been baffled and joyous at the same time when the dragons had appeared. Then a woman called Alisha had come and explained the situation to them, along with a bit of what had been done to bring the dragons back.

Harry still couldn't believe that Bellatrix had almost managed to screw up the entire wizarding world. Though he reasoned that it was not really surprising. It only confirmed that the bitch had been crazy way before ending in Azkaban. Fortunately, the ultimate demise of the wizarding world had been prevented, and now the bonded were busy trying to figure out how to deal with the resulting mess. Harry scoffed. It had been apparent that the people that had come from other countries had been reluctant to offer any help. They would just happily ignore Britain's war with Voldemort, now that THEIR main problem was solved. The rest had been unsure of what to do.

Harry wondered how the wizarding world had survived the centuries, if all the wizards had always been so… self-centred. No one was willing to think about what the consequences of their "closed doors" policy could be. As Harry had understood it, everything would have been way easier if they had just joined forces and attacked Voldemort when the man had first discovered the Rainbow Dragons' big secret. But of course no one had thought of asking for help! The rest of the world had remained practically oblivious to what had been happening as Voldemort had taken special care to eliminate the most powerful wizards before hand, and the few that had remained had either isolated themselves or had not been told the entire truth. The British wizards had seemed to want to resolve the problem without the meddling of other countries. It had been fortunate that Bellatrix had not had time to reveal everything to Voldemort before the curse had been cast, or there would have been absolutely no hope of survival.

Anyway, Harry was more than willing to leave the rest of the bonded to their petty politics and to resolve whatever issues they had with "getting involved." What had really angered him had been to realize the role he and Draco had taken in the whole mess, along with some information of his past. Information courtesy of Snape, because he had been the only one willing to fully enlighten the boy, and Salamanca, because she had been pressed by Snape to do it. Everyone else had clearly stated that it was a bad idea to let the Gryffindor boy know more about himself!

It had turned out that when the last Rainbow Dragon had hid her dragonling, and everyone had been looking for it like crazy, the prophesy had come along. Snape had not heard part of it, he had actually listen to the entire prophesy. The reason for him to be out of the room was because he had wanted to tell Dumbledore about the people that Voldemort had suspected to be hiding the small dragon. The owner of the Hog had thought that he didn't have anything to do there, but Snape had waited for Dumbledore outside the establishment and had talked with him. The whole group of the bonded residents of Britain had discussed the prophesy then and had actually agreed on Snape going back to Voldemort to tell him part of it. From the version that Snape was going to say, it could have been easily implied that the prophesy was speaking about the dragon's vessel. They had been hoping to send Voldemort in a wild chase after the Potters and Longbottoms, both families had already been put into hiding under fidelius, while they would continue their own search and investigation of ways to undo what Voldemort had done and re-open the portal to the Dragon-realm.

But James Potter had been convinced to change secret keepers at the last minute, and had neglected to inform anyone of such change. But even if he had had, no one would have opposed. Petigrew after all had been a good friend of the young man, and no one had known the identity of Voldemort's spy, not even his inner circle. So, the Dark Lord had attacked the Potters with a double intention, to erase the danger and to get the dragon. He hadn't been aware that the dragon was not in its physical form. He hadn't know how exactly the creature had managed to hide. He had supposed that James would be able to summon it, or that the dragon would somehow sense the danger to its bonded. With little help from Bellatrix he had theorized that once the child was killed it would be easier to track the creature and made his own bond with it.

So, the Potters had been attacked. Harry had deflected the Avada Kedabra upon the caster and Voldemort had ceased to be a problem for the moment.

And that had created confusion among the bonded. They had wondered if perhaps it was possible that Harry actually had been the vessel. They had analyzed the events and had concluded that even if Lily had been a muggleborn, the mother dragon could have very well done a ritual that could ignore that fact, seeing that the bond had been with the unborn child and not the mother. Finally, it had been Dumbledore the one convinced that Harry was the child they had been looking for. He couldn't think of any other cause that could have allowed Lily to summon the powerful ancient magic that had protected him, even if she had been a powerful witch herself. He had simply overlooked the fact that magic per se was not selective about who got to use what, if you had enough power, you can do it.

They all had ended up been convinced of the fact that Harry simply had to have the dragon. Some of them had even tried to get custody of him, but the reality was that he had surviving family, even if it was not magical, and Dumbledore had wanted to preserve the magic that Lily had managed to invoke. The Dursleys had been a necessity for the blood magic to be active. The bonded had been ready to do everything to keep the only Rainbow Dragon safe. Besides, the low level of magic in the muggle world would help to keep the bond dormant and Harry out of troubles while they had dealt with Bella, and the Death Eaters that had been told about the Rainbow Dragons.

From the moment Harry had started Hogwarts he had been closely watched by Dumbledore and Snape, waiting for signals that the bond had been activated. The old headmaster had insisted on seeing those signals in the sheer luck that Harry had to get out of troubles and his innate ability for flying. Snape had always been sceptical, pointing out all the help that the boy had had, emphasizing the one that the very headmaster had always provided. But Dumbledore would never listen. He never had considered the possibility that Harry may not be the dragon vessel, and so he had tried to give the boy a disguised training. He had known about the horcruxes from the beginning. Regulus had informed the rest of the bonded of his discovery, before being killed trying to destroy one. But Dumbledore had thought that Harry would need to find them himself, and that had included dealing with Slughorn. It was to be part of his training to fulfil the prophesy, which Dumbledore obviously had thought that the boy should do alone, thinking that he won't need anybody else but his dragon.

It seemed that only Snape had always scoffed at the Headmaster's obsession with Harry being the chosen one. The sour potions master simply had wanted a more solid proof than luck. He had gotten it the day that Harry had cast the _sectumsempra_ on Draco, and actually had felt quite vindicated to prove that Dumbledore had been wrong. Harry really had powerful magic, and it had turned out that he should have killed the blond Slytherin with the _sectumsempra_, instead he had activated Draco's bond. The magic had not retaliated with force, but it had protected Draco's vital organs and saved him. Snape had immediately felt the bond, it had been still weak, but it had been there. The man actually had done little to cure Draco's wounds as the boy's magic had already been doing a nice job.

Draco had started to dream with dragons and crazy chases in the sky. He had only informed Snape of those dreams the first time he had had them, because he had thought that Potter had cursed him with something, but Severus had assured him that he had only been paranoid. Later on Snape had obliviated Draco, and so the blond had not remembered ever having strange dreams before arriving to Grimauld place.

Dumbledore had been disappointed that Harry was not the dragon-vessel, but still had continued with his plan, reasoning that even if the Gryffindor wasn't the bonded child, he still had a prophesy to fulfil. Besides, Draco was going to need protection. Apparently the headmaster had not been ready to deposit in a Malfoy the trust he had had in the Gryffindor boy. No one had objected him. There had been no doubt that Harry would grow to be powerful, and they still had needed another one to help Draco to fulfil the requirements of the ritual.

Harry started to curse. He felt betrayed and used. Everything that had happened had been a set up so Draco could have the mere possibility of giving birth to a baby that could be a potential bonded! That had been the best they could have found! They had used him to get Draco pregnant! He could have expected this treachery from Snape, but Dumbledore… He had trusted Dumbledore! He had almost idolized the old headmaster, and now…! Harry couldn't help but feel like he had always been just an instrument. The masterpiece that was necessary for someone's plans to be fulfilled.

Salamanca had tried to calm him down, but he had not wanted to have anything with anyone. Funny enough, Snape had been the only one that had not tried to sugar-coat things for him. The man had been concrete and practical. The entire problem had been reduced to one thing for him: without Rainbow Dragons there was no wizarding world. Snape had been ready to do anything, even if at sometime it would have meant his own death, to bring the creatures back. To hurt Harry's or Draco's feelings in the process was, in his opinion, a very small prize to pay.

Harry cursed Snape and his god-dammed rationality. He looked at the door, fearing to open it. How was he supposed to face Draco now? It all had been a lie. The Gryffindor screamed and ran his hands through his hair in desperation. He didn't know what to do. Until that morning he had been considering that maybe he was falling in love for the blond. He had wanted to protect him, to know him better and to spend life with him. And everything had been a cruel lie!

The black-haired boy let out a coarse laugh. He should have known that it was too good to be true. It was impossible that Malfoy would ever had wanted anything to do with him, much less feel something other than hate towards him. He had been forced by the circumstances and the very real need to bring the dragons back. "For the greater good" as Dumbledore had liked to say. The old man would have been satisfied.

He almost turned around and left. Maybe it was better if they never saw each other again. They had done their task and Draco didn't need to be protected any more. Harry was just too bitter to think about how the blond boy must be feeling. He had not really asked anything about the Slytherin or the child.

Suddenly Harry paused. Merlin, they had a child! He closed his eyes and groaned as if he was in pain. The child had been borne. That had been the reason for the portal to the Dragon's realm to open again. Harry had not really assimilated that bit of information until then. He exhaled noisily and then remembered Malfoy's face when the boy had told him about his uncharacteristic pregnancy. Draco had been really afraid then. He had feared for his child enough to make Harry promise that the baby would be taken care of, even if the Gryffindor wouldn't want to do it himself.

Harry opened his eyes and huffed. Then, he raised his hands and tugged at his hair, unsure about what to do. He didn't want to see Draco. He was sure that he would scream and punch the boy's nose as soon as he saw him. But he wanted to see his daughter, to make sure that she was allright and wouldn't need him. Surely Malfoy wouldn't want him around, he thought bitterly, remembering how hard the blond had tried to keep Harry emotionally at bay, not accepting when the Gryffindor had spoken about his feelings, must be because he had known that those feelings were not real. But Harry had promised that he would see to his child's well-being, and frankly, after seeing the people downstairs interact for a while he wouldn't trust them to have a newborn's needs in mind.

Finally he made a decision. He would see his girl, he'd make sure she was properly cared for, and he'd offer Malfoy help to provide for her. He was sure that the blond was going to refuse his help, but he'd be at peace with his daughter. He opened the door still hesitantly and peered into the room.

He nearly pulled out and stayed outside. The room was bigger than before, and inundated in soothing light. Harry gulped and quietly closed the door behind him, not wanting to startle the big creature at the bed's end. A sense of curiosity invaded him. This was the creature Draco had grown up with. He tried to get his mind around the fact that the dragon had technically lived inside Draco's head. It was so strange.

He wondered if it was safe to approach the bed, noticing the basinet that was beside it. He was about to try a couple of steps when the dragon moved. Harry froze in his spot and looked as two brilliant yellow eyes focused him and the dragon raised its elegant neck just enough so turning its head around wouldn't be difficult. Harry was enthralled by the intensity of the creature's stare, almost as if it was piercing his very soul. It was considerably smaller than his own dragon, but still very much impressive.

He asked himself what would be an appropriate way to act. The dragon in front of him was the cause of Draco's deception, but it was not as if either one of them had actually had any other choice. Maybe it was wrong for Harry to feel so resentful, but he just couldn't help it. The dragon seemed to feel his unease and inclined its head a bit to the side.

**You can come and be with them. Draco needs you right now.**

Harry scoffed.

"He doesn't need me anymore. There are plenty of people that would help him, and he's Lord Malfoy now, he has a place to go."

The dragon looked nonplussed.

**What he needs is not people, and any place is in essence the same. What he needs is his mate by his side.**

Harry resisted the impulse to gape at the creature and shook his head instead.

"I'm not any kind of mate to him. We have despised each other for years. If this whole mess had never happened he'd certainly keep himself from even touch me. You should know what really happened!"

Harry's eyes hardened and looked accusingly at the creature, not stopping to consider that it might be a bad idea to disagree with a dragon, no matter how young it was.

"As I understand it, you caused Draco to change so he was able to carry a child, and you did the spell so I felt attracted to him. None of that would have happened otherwise!"

The dragon made a noise, almost as if it was huffing.

**The spell was a necessity. There was so little time. It was imperative that his pregnancy ended before mother's magic ran out.**

"And you picked me up because you found me convenient, I get it."

**I didn't choose you. Draco did, and the magic of the bond agreed with him.**

Harry blinked, not really understanding what the Dragon was saying. Sally continued.

**Mother knew that my vessel would need protection and someone with strong magic to help him. She was not sure if there would be anyone alive that could find a way to reopen the portal, so she trusted that I'll compel Draco to find a way to do it and set the spell that joined us in such a way that it would attract the people more suited to help us. It was dormant many years. When it was activated, I was able to control the magic. I pried into Draco's mind and feelings, knowing that he would be more aware of who'd be a potential ally. You were already a strong presence in his mind and hearth. You were everywhere. Every important success of his school years seemed to bring forth an image of you. He compared himself with you in every step, and behind every memory of you there was longing and sadness. Draco had wanted to get closer to you for so long, and the magic as well as his memories told me that you were strong and able to fight. I brought Draco to you and helped him to initiate contact. It's a pity that things had to be forced to go faster than normal, but nonetheless you both managed to establish a ****very strong bond.**

Harry swallowed hard. He felt dizzy. He didn't know if he should believe what the dragon was saying. But anyway, that didn't change things really.

"I only got closer to him because of your magic. Now that he has given birth, our 'bond' surely has ended. He doesn't need my magic anymore. And anyway, all the protectiveness I felt, along with everything else, wasn't real. My feelings were only provoked by your spell."

**You are not very familiar with magic if you think that. The spell was to pull the two of you together sooner, using lust as a catalyst, but it can't create feelings. It works with what you already have in your mind. The strongest your feelings, the more powerful the attraction. But the spell ended the moment that Draco conceived, as mating between the two of you was no longer needed. You however remained by his side, and your magic continued to surround him, and he responded and pulled that magic into himself. The interchange was also necessary, but you didn't need to show any care for him. Your close proximity would have been enough for Draco's core to continue feeding from you, as it was doing from everybody else without any of you being aware of it****, sometimes not even him.**

Harry looked at his feet, still dubious.

"How can I know that what you're saying is true? Everyone insist on keeping things from me!"

**You can ask your dragon. You have one now, don't you? ****He or she can tell you the truth, and will never lie to you.**

"Never?"

**It i****s not in our nature to lie. That seems to be a human thing.**

Harry rolled his eyes in amusement. He finally sighed and looked at the basinet and the bed. He was starting to wonder why Draco hadn't made a sound yet when the room's door opened and the man named Paraximedes entered.

"Oh, Mr. Potter you are here. I noticed that you were too distraught downstairs."

"Yeah, well not everyday you get to know that people you trusted had lied to you your entire life." He said sarcastically. The man simply shrugged.

"Most of it couldn't be helped. But I agree that Albus could be unreasonable sometimes. He was never the same after he lost his dragon."

Paraximedes proceeded to the basinet and Harry followed him. The dragon looked at them for a moment and then it stood and effortlessly flapped its wings and rose. Harry looked in astonishment as the figure disappeared through the ceiling. Paraximedes didn't seem concerned, so the boy decided to let it go and put attention at the mediwizard again.

The Gryffindor refused to look at the bed, focusing his eyesight on the basinet and the small figure in it. His baby girl. There was some kind of blue bubble around her and he immediately asked what it was. The mediwizard explained that it was a warm and healing bubble. As she had to be borne before time, her lungs had not yet finished to mature and her immune system was technically non-existent. She'd had to stay in the bubble for at least a week, it was only safe to get her out of it for small periods of time to feed her and change her nappies.

Harry looked worriedly at the baby while the mediwizard did his check up. She was so tiny and pink, with only a brush of light hair on her head. She seemed to be lost among the blankets that covered her. Harry wasn't sure of her size because all he could really see of her was her small face and tiny fists; the skin was a bit wrinkled. He ached to touch her, but the mediwizard said that he could not disrupt the bubble. Paraximedes finished his checking up and informed Harry that his baby would be ready to be feed in half an hour, and then he turned to the bed to start on Draco.

The black-haired Gryffindor kept looking at his daughter for a moment. He was unsure of what he would feel when he'd saw the blond Slytherin. He berated himself that he was being childish, he'd have to confront Draco sooner or later. Besides it was probable that the boy was still asleep, seeing that he had been unnaturally quiet the entire time. With that in mind he turned around to see what the mediwizard was doing, and immediately wished he hadn't.

Draco was lying under the bedcovers, unmoving and seemingly unresponsive. His skin was as white as the blankets, and for a terrifying moment Harry would have swore that he wasn't breathing. He hurried to the mediwizard's side and hovered worriedly over the man's shoulder, trying to see what he was doing to Draco. Paraximedes only cast a couple of spells and then required Harry's help to give the blond boy some potions and make him swallow them. That implied a combination of holding Draco's body up, force his mouth open, and cast a spell that would help the potion to pass smoothly down the boy's throat without risk of suffocation.

Harry helped, and cringed when he felt how unnaturally rigid and cold Draco was. He waited until the mediwizard was finished to ask what was wrong with Malfoy. Paraximedes sighed and started to explain while tucking the unmoving form in the bedcovers again.

"Well, it was a lot for him to take. The birth was not easy and his body and magical core were already under so much stress. He had forced them to their limits. When his bond with his dragon went dormant again, the sudden lack of magic damaged his core and it spread to his entire body. He could no longer sustain a pregnancy, so the child had to either be borne or be lost. He preferred to give birth and put every ounce of strength he still had on the act. Very brave, but he's paying the consequences now."

"But, he's going to recover, right?"

"I sincerely don't know. He's too weak and his core had stopped to pull on the surrounding magic. I have done everything I can for him, but he's not responding to the healing spells or the potions. I'm afraid that it's only a matter of time before his body surrenders entirely."

Harry felt suddenly ill. He barely registered a chair close by and sat heavily on it. He focused his eyes on Draco's pale face and gulped. No. No, this could not be happening! He had been fully prepared to be angry with Malfoy, to rage, and complain, and fight with him, and have him hate his guts again, and to never talk to the prissy prat again. But, this? He didn't want this! He wanted Draco to tell him to get lost, to say that it had all been a necessity, that he wasn't needed anymore because he actually had never felt anything for him. He wanted Draco to be alive and say all those things to him. Not dead. Malfoy couldn't die, he didn't have the right to die and leave Harry and their daughter behind! He was supposed to go back to act like the spoiled brat he was before this whole ordeal began! He was supposed to talk with Harry damnit! There was so much that they had to set right! He was not supposed to die!

Harry wasn't aware of the mediwizard moving until a hand rested on his shoulder. He didn't look up. He didn't dare to take his eyes away from Draco. The man at his side sighed.

"I understand that it's hard to accept. But it would not do you any good to worry yourself sick over it. Whatever happens you are not alone to face it."

That wasn't really very comforting. Harry felt suddenly angry with the man.

"He's not dead yet."

"I know. But I had learned to detach myself and see the facts rather than what I want to see. Right now it is very improbable that Mr. Malfoy recovers. And you can't afford to feel guilty for something that is not within your power to prevent. Right now it is your daughter the one that needs you the most Mr. Potter."

Harry glared at the mediwizard, and then turned to look at the basinet. He thought about raising his child alone, and could not stand it. Draco couldn't do this to him!

"No. She would need both of us. Draco has to be there for her too. He's not dead yet, do not treat him as if he was!"

Paraximedes sighed again, but decided to not argue with the young man. It was time to feed the baby anyway, so the mediwizard instructed Harry on how to do it, and took care to leave the little girl properly tucked inside her bubble again before exiting the room.

* * *

Harry didn't leave Draco's side for the following hours. He put some wards on the door that should have made quite clear that he didn't want to see anyone. However, at the end of the day Snape entered the room, without knocking, and without consideration to the wards that Harry had erected for privacy. The boy glared bloody murder at him, but his ex-professor was nonplussed. The potions master went straight to the blond Slytherin and cast his own diagnostic spells, just to be sure that the mediwizard had not overseen something.

Harry rolled his eyes. Trust Severus Snape to not take a fully trained medizard's diagnosis without checking it himself. The professor frowned when he was finished, and for a moment looked at the boy's form with an emotion that Harry thought could be regret. A bit late for that. He continued glaring at the older man and asked resentfully.

"Was it worth it professor?"

"Explain yourself Potter."

"Everything that happened. The lies, the pressure… Having forced Draco to do this, knowing that you may as well have killed him. Was it worth it?"

"Let me ask you something Potter. If a month ago Dumbledore would have come to you, and informed you that in order to destroy the Dark Lord once and for all, and save the wizarding and muggle world you needed to sacrifice yourself and die. What would you have done?"

Harry clenched his fists, not liking the analogy at all.

"That's different! To stop Voldemort would save thousands of innocent lives!"

"And what do you think was at stake here Potter?"

"If a wizard is left without magic, he doesn't die! Sure, things would be harder, but eventually we'd only have to blend with the muggles. Live like them. Be just humans!"

"Is that so? And what about the house-elves that your muggleborn friend is so fond of? The Goblins that keep Gringots working? The various others species of dragons that Weasley study? Centaurs and Unicorns are only a few examples of the many creatures that inhabit the forbidden forest around Hogwarts; did you know that Hagrid actually knows them all? And the werewolves, like your friend Lupin? Are their lives not worth the same than a wizard's?"

"… Oh…"

Harry averted his eyes in shame. Why he always had to appear stupid in front of Snape of all people?

"Think for a moment Potter, instead of trying to pass out as one of those ignoramus who believe that the magical world is restricted to wizards and their way of life! Of course, for the majority of the population, which consist of muggles, nothing would have been lost. They'll continue their existence without any notion that something is lacking from the world. After all, one who had never seen a unicorn cannot miss it."

Harry looked at Draco quietly. He also understood what Snape had not said. For one who had lived with magic all his life, a world without it would be unbearable. The potions master seemed to be satisfied with his quiet understanding and softly took the blonde's boy right hand to put the Malfoy's family ring on his middle finger. Then, he turned around to depart. He had only entered the room to be certain that nothing could be done about Draco's condition, and he had already confirmed it.

He paused at the door and gave Potter a last minute message.

"By the way, tomorrow we are trying the ritual to give Hogwarts a new Headmaster. We should be able to get into the castle by the afternoon. I'm sure that those problematic friends of you are getting over themselves with worry. It would be in our best interest to not make them wait too much longer."

Harry gritted his teeth at the derisive tone in the potions master's voice, but decided to ignore it and instead ask.

"Who's going to be proposed?"

"That would be me, Potter."

Harry widened his eyes in surprise.

"But, I thought that professor McGonagall…"

"As strong as Minerva is, she is not bonded to a Rainbow Dragon. Therefore she cannot have the burden of the castle. Without a Dragon, the ancient magic will consume her. Albus left her a pensieve detailing the reasons for my supposed betrayal, and also instructing that it is I who should be the next Headmaster. There shouldn't be any troubles in that aspect."

Harry fumed. A pensieve. McGonagall had always had known what had really happened between the old Headmaster and Snape! Yet another bit of information that he had not been privy to. He couldn't help but feel bitter about it. If he was so untrustworthy that he didn't deserve to be notified of the important things, then why in the nine hells had the headmaster had faith in that he was going to fulfil the prophesy? Speaking of which…

"What about Voldemort? Have you people finally decided if the war is important enough for you to get involved in it?" He said sarcastically. For his surprise Snape smirked.

"There are some that would content themselves with hunt down Bellatrix and have their revenge only on her. Specially those of other countries. The Dragons, however, are not so forgiving. They want the one that had the temerity of closing the portal between worlds. They would not be satisfied until such a dangerous individual is dead."

Harry couldn't help but share Snape's smirk. Yes. Voldemort would have what was coming to him.

* * *

The castle seemed to be humming with magic. Harry was surprised at how well he could feel it. Everything seemed more alive than ever. Well except the ghosts, but that was an understatement. He waited in the hospital wing for his friends, despite Snape's sarcastic comments that Draco was not going to disappear if left alone for a few minutes. Harry simply could not make himself go away from the blonde's and his baby's side yet if it was not necessary. For all his doubts about whether or not his feelings had been real, the worry and protectiveness felt pretty much like the real thing at the moment.

He looked as his daughter sucked her tiny fist, and noticed for the first time that her eyes were blue. He was enthralled by the sight, and was wondering if he could be a good father for her, when a slight cough called his attention. He turned around to find Hermione looking at him in wonder, behind her hovered the twins, Bill and Fleur. He smiled and got a few paces away from the basinet in order to greet his friends. Hermione approached cautiously and hugged him fiercely.

"Oh Harry! We've been so worried!"

"Yeah, I'm sorry Herm. It was very awkward for me too."

He cursed Regulus Black once more. Damn the man. He'd like so much to explain to Hermione what exactly had been going on! She sure as hell would have enjoyed the mystery, as well as the opportunity to know more about the wizarding world. As it was, he had to content himself with giving vague information about a rebel group, that Dumbledore had also been part of, which had helped him. Hermione was half-listening to him. She was distracted by the basinet, and the small bundle inside it.

"Oh Harry! Your child is borne! But…"

"Yeah, Draco had some… complications. He had to give birth or risk loosing her."

"'s a girl fhen." Said Fleur, who had approached the basinet and was peering inside. "Oh, Harry! Sh's so feautiful! Fuat es her name?"

"Lillian Berenice."

Everyone wanted to look into the basinet then, and Harry had to put himself between his friends and his daughter, fearing that they would accidentally harm her. One of the twins asked.

"Hey mate, what's with the bubble?"

"Well, as she had to be borne early she has to stay inside it, so she could get stronger."

Everyone nodded in comprehension, and then retreated a bit from the basinet. Hermione turned to the bed and gasped in surprise when she noticed the way Draco looked.

"Oh my God! Harry, is he gonna be allright?"

The Gryffindor boy sighed and approached the bed to gingerly take one of Draco's hands on his.

"I don't know. He's not responding to anything the mediwizard had given him. Not even to Snape's potions."

Everyone except the twins moved uncomfortably at the mention of Snape, but Harry ignored it. He knew that Moody should have warned them before hand of the potions master's true role in the war. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned his head a bit to the side to give a glance at Bill.

"Whatever happens mate, you know we'll be here with you."

The rest nodded in agreement, and Harry couldn't help a smile.

"Thanks guys." He returned to look at Draco's pale face, and took comfort in the fact that his skin didn't feel so cold as the previous day. "But he's gonna make it. He better do, or I'm gonna be pretty mad with him."

His friends agreed with him, and gave him their support. They stayed in the hospital wing for a while until Madam Pomfrey arrived and kicked all of them out. Harry had to be forcefully dragged to the Great Hall, complaining loudly that he wasn't bothering anyone in the hospital wing. Hermione convinced him that Madam Pomfrey needed to check Draco and the baby and she'd work better alone, besides, they had to attend the meeting between the Order and this rebel group Moody and he were talking about. Harry finally agreed ruefully, after all, they needed to be prepared for the reaction that the recent events would surely provoke from Voldemort.

They arrived at the Great Hall and walked straight to the group of people that consisted of Remus, McGonagall, Mrs. Weasley and a few other members of the order. There were more people present, but Harry decided to ignore everyone but his surrogate family. Molly pulled him into a tight hug as soon as she put her eyes on him. Harry returned the hug wholeheartedly.

"Oh Harry! How wonderful that you're ok! Where's Draco?"

Mrs. Weasley lifted her head, looking for the blond head among the rest of the teenagers. She got embarrassed looks from everyone in return. She scowled at them.

"Has something happened?"

Harry answered her with a bit of discomfort.

"Draco is in the Hospital wing Mrs. Weasley. The baby had to be borne early."

There were surprised gasps and adequately worried questions. Harry explained the abbreviated version of the situation and accepted again his family's support. He was in the process of assuring Mrs. Weasley that his daughter had been properly taken care of, when the door that was behind the high table opened and Snape entered, followed by Salamanca and Moody. McGonagall's face became serious then and she walked decidedly to the potions master, followed by the rest of the Order.

Harry stayed back. He figured that they were going to have endless conversations about loyalty and other such things. The Weasley twins and Hermione stayed with him, looking curiously at the gathering taking place at the front of the Great Hall. Hermione frowned in worry, some of the Order members had not been really happy with the news that Snape was going to be Hogwarts' Headmaster. She feared a less than amiable confrontation and hoped that McGonagall and Mad Eye could keep the Order quiet.

Minerva stood in front of Snape and looked intensely at him for a few moments. Then, unexpectedly, she pulled back her hand and slapped him. Everyone stayed gaping at her, too surprised to say or do anything before she started to yell.

"You fool! Both you and Dumbledore! Do you have any idea what the rest of us went through? Where is that old conniving bastard's portrait? I'm going to give him a piece of my mind! How dare you both concoct such a stupidity is beyond me! You of all people should have dissuaded him! You have more sense than this Severus! And I know you could have found another solution that didn't involve killing!"

Everyone watched in various states of shock as McGonagall vented her anger. She continued her rant for another good minute before anyone thought about stopping her. Finally Remus came out of his shock and tried to gently pull her away from a baffled Snape. The werewolf procured to calm the upset witch down, saying that surely everything had an explanation, and that she must keep a levelled head for the sake of everyone. Harry took a deep breath, and looked at Hermione's incredulous face. The twins were laughing their brains out, but had had the sense of erecting a privacy shield around them so no one could hear their mirth.

Once the entire assembly recovered enough to talk, and explanations were given and accepted, they finally put themselves to work on a strategy to finish the Dark Lord's reign.


	26. While we wait

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Warning: **Character death.

**Chapter 25****. While we wait.**

Voldemort crucioed Bellatrix once more in outrage. It had no point. The woman's screams did nothing to placate his murderous mood. She was less than useless. She lacked enough brains to find a way around the curse, so she couldn't explain in detail the magic that protected the portal to the Dragons' realm, in order for him to find a way to destroy it once and for all. The years in Azkaban had made a dent after all. She had been capable enough to guide the Death Eaters to the breeding dragons before, but now it was as if anything she could do was writhe in fear! She was supposed to fear HIM! Not some low magical creatures! He was the greatest wizard of all times! He was the one who was going to conquer them in the end!

He finally left the semi-unconscious woman lying on the floor, and went to his personal chambers to think. There was no choice but to call his army. He will crush those who still opposed him, and destroy Hogwarts first, after that he'd pursue the Rainbow Dragons again. He will have their power!

The Dark Lord considered for a moment the reports that his underlings had given him. It had been almost two weeks and no one had been able to break into Hogwarts. In all appearances the castle was impenetrable. Snape was doing a much better job of guarding it than Dumbledore had. But then again, the old cot hadn't been leading an open resistance against Voldemort at the time. The dark wizard sneered disdainfully. His last horcrux was still inside the damned building, and he could not risk to try and connect with it like he had done with the others months ago. He didn't want to bring unwanted attention over it in case that they weren't aware of its presence, besides, he still had the nagging suspicion that his activating of their link to himself had made them vulnerable to destruction. And really, there was nothing that indicated that his enemies were aware that his last Horcrux was right under their noses. He had had reports that assured him that they had been looking in other places. Even if they had thought about the possibility of the Horcrux being in the castle, it would take time to find it, and they had low chances to succeed. After all, Dumbledore had not been capable to locate it, or even know it had been taken there. Voldemort doubted that Snape would be more successful.

But first things first. He will organize the army that he had not really needed until that moment, and he'll find a way through the school's wards. He smiled evilly when an idea popped in his mind. He might as well activate the connection he still had with the youngest Weasley. The bond that had been created when his horcrux had possessed her had never been truly broken. The girl had been pretty vulnerable to his influence since then. He had noticed that connection before, but had disregarded it as non-consequential and unimportant. But now, it could serve his purposes just finely. He only needed the right spell, and Ginevra Weasley would be under his command again.

* * *

Harry scowled in concentration, trying to focus on the desired result of the spell he intended to use. The staff he was holding still felt strange. It was heavier than his wand and he could sense the undercurrent of magic along the polished wood like never before. He stared ahead of him at some rocks and spoke firmly.

"Reducto!"

The blast of magic had enough force to disrupt his balance, and he took a step backwards trying not to move his arms, but nevertheless his aim was affected, and the stones were left untouched beside the large hole that Harry's spell produced. The boy cursed loudly. It had been two weeks since they had arrived to Hogwarts. Two weeks of waiting, preparing, and training with the damn staff, and he still couldn't manage to control his spells! The Gryffindor sighed, and turned to look at Snape, who was supervising his efforts. Well, at least he no longer was propelled backwards to fell painfully on his butt. Maybe he had improved at least a bit. The man gave him a grunt that could as well be approval or annoyance, and then signalled for the boy to approach him.

Harry sighed again, and walked towards the sour professor. Some meters to his right he could see his and Snape's dragons, apparently curled around one another. He looked at the creatures, and started to contemplate the situation they all were in.

It was surprising how everything had seemed to arrange itself once they had been in Hogwarts. The news that the castle was open again to anyone who wanted refuge had spread quickly along the wizarding world. Soon every rebel that had still been free in the Britain had been there, and of course Voldemort's lackeys had been literally at the castle's doors too, demanding entrance to the school.

Snape had erected the new wards in a way that no one could enter the grounds unless aided by a special portkey, provided only to the people that accepted to state their loyalties under veritaserum. Even when some had still eyed Snape distrustfully, reality was that they had run out of options. They had needed to take the last line of hope that had been offered, and so they had willingly accepted the potions master's questioning. Not even the school governors could set foot into Hogwarts unauthorized. The wizarding world was being reintroduced to the fact that the school only obeyed to the Headmaster, and there was nothing anyone could do to change that.

It had been necessary to do some quick modifications in the castle to accommodate the refugees. The surviving groups of St. Mungo's had been among the firsts to look for help. The hospital wing had been insufficient to keep them all, so the Ravenclaw's tower had been transformed into the new hospital wing. The rest of the rebels, the bonded, the Order members, and some families looking to escape the Dark Regime, had taken over Gryffindor's tower and Hufflepuff's cellar. The leaders had surprisingly organized, and now everyone had instructions on how to act in case of an attack. They also had managed to agree on a plan to confront Voldemort once and for all.

Snape had located the last horcrux with the help of the ghosts and the house-elves of the castle, and Harry had had to go and ask his dragon for help to destroy it. Once it had been done, their only worry had been that Riddle wouldn't think about doing any more before they had the chance to kill him. Though they had doubted he could even manage to do more, his soul was almost non-existent as it was, but they were unwilling to take the chance.

All in all, the most difficult part had been to explain the dragons flying over the castle, and resting on the grounds and the towers from time to time. The bonded had not yet even tried to look for a way to lift Black's curse, and explaining the existence of a race of dragons that only the oldest families had known about, and many had thought to be a myth, had proved to be indeed challenging. Especially when no one had been able to accept out loud that the creature sleeping on the towers, in plain view of everyone, had been very real and not a figment of their collective imagination. Fortunately, the few pureblood families that were among them still remembered the family-tales about the rainbow dragons, and some of them had been willing to share them with their fellow refugees. Unfortunately, everyone had started to make conjectures based on slightly erroneous information from such tales. It was frustrating to hear some of the theories that people had been coming up with, and not being able to correct them. Still, there had been some interesting ones. Harry's favourite was the one where the dragons were the guardians of Hogwarts, brought in by the founders upon Slytherin's deception, and asleep for hundreds of years, and that Snape had finally awoken them to defend the castle.

Hermione had been miffed that she hadn't been able to find anything about the mysterious dragons anywhere. She had guessed correctly that Harry knew something about them and had buggered him until the boy had had no choice but to make her understand that there was a curse preventing him to talk about it. Once Hermione had figured that out, she had tried to look for something that could reverse said curse. It had been very difficult because she hadn't known exactly what the curse had involved, and there had been no one willing to give her much information on the matter. Besides, everyone had been rather busy training to be prepared for when Voldemort decided to attack. Everyone expected such attack to be soon. The Dark Lord was not exactly a patient man, and Hogwarts had been turned into a fortress against his reign, his enemies' asylum. He would need to destroy it as soon as possible. In view of that, concerns about the exact origin of the Rainbow Dragons had been relegated to second place for the moment.

Harry bit his lower lip in slight exasperation when Snape started to criticize again the way he had been holding the staff, and not controlling the flow of magic to perfection. He could not help it; the thing was powerful and very demanding. The fact that they were doing express training instead of a more peaceful one was not helping. Harry knew that he had to put all his effort on the training if he wanted to be able to use his magic to its full potential against Voldemort. However, Harry's most pressing worry was Draco's health, or lack of as it was. It was screwing his concentration. He also had a baby girl to care for.

He hadn't wanted to leave her in the hospital wing with the rest of St. Mungo's patients, but at the same time he had considered that she should remain close to Draco. He had convinced himself that if the blond could feel his baby near him, he would fight to survive. Never mind that the healer had said that it was improbable that the young Lord Malfoy could be aware of anything in his current state. Harry had fought to convince Madam Pomfrey and Paraximedes to let Draco be moved to Gryffindor tower with him, or at the very last to have his own private room, where Harry would be able to care about him and his daughter in peace. In the end, it had been Sally the one that had decided the blond Slytherin's check out of the hospital wing. Draco was bonded to a very protective dragon; by the first time that Sally had attempted to do a hole into Ravenclaw's tower in order to see Draco, every single one of the scared healers had been demanding something to be done about the "wild dragon." Snape had then ordered the boy to be moved to Slytherin's personal quarters. The four founders had had made their rooms with ample space, so their dragons had been able to come and go as they had pleased. Slytherin's were conveniently placed over the dungeons, and there was a passage that opened to the grounds, so Sally would have no problems visiting Draco at her heart's content. Harry had moved with Draco and Lillian, and Molly visited him every single day to help him with his small daughter while he trained with the rest of the rebels.

The Gryffindor tried not to show his tiredness when he once again attempted to follow Snape's instructions to make the staff work properly. He could feel the eyes of his dragon at his back following his advances. It was so strange. Here he was, actually listening to Snape's advice in the hopes that he had the chance to impress a magical creature. He must be insane. He didn't even like the staff, he simply was not used to it, but the dragon's bond had increased his magic significantly, and it was too much for a normal wand. If he wanted to continue using a wand he had to make a new one, properly attuned to him, and that will take a lot of time. Every bonded had a staff, they had stopped using them when the dragons had disappeared, and their magic had been sealed. The damned things simply had not worked for them anymore. When the seal had been broken, they immediately had looked for their beloved staffs.

The majority of the "new bonded" had had to take the instruction on how to make their own staffs, only a few had inherited theirs from deceased relatives. Harry was among those few. He had received the staff that had belonged to his father. It was made of Aspen reinforced with unicorn horn. The end resembled a stag's antlers protecting a bloodstone sphere, which emanated a brilliant red light when Harry cast any spells. It should be light, but for Harry it was extraordinary heavy sometimes. Snape said that it was because the boy was fighting against the staff's natural magic, and unconsciously rejecting the idea to work with it. Harry thought that the rejection was not so unconscious. He had been awed when Snape had first handed him the staff and explained that James had been actually the one to make it. However, his happiness at having another heirloom of his father had been short lived. As soon as his professor had explained that Dumbledore had kept the staff in safeguard with the idea to be the one to hand it down to Harry, the boy's smile had just faltered a little. Still, it wasn't so bad that the old headmaster had decided to keep the staff, after all he had been planning on returning it to Harry, but then Snape had mentioned that Albus had changed the gemstone. It had used to be a moonstone, a magical stone more adequate to heal. The old man had considered that it would be of little use to Harry, and so had changed it with one usually associated to heroes and martyrs. The Gryffindor boy had not been happy with the information. Who did Dumbledore think he was? He had no right to change James' staff! He had no right whatsoever to manipulate Harry's life in that way! The boy would have gladly made his discomfort known making a hole in the Headmaster's office where Albus' portrait was. Only that he really hadn't wanted to alienate Snape, seeing that it was his office now, and the portrait in question had been conspicuously empty at the moment, which would have made Harry's indignant bout of destructiveness entirely useless.

So, Harry was unhappy with the staff, and as consequence he was not mastering it like he should. Snape had already pointed out that the best course of action was that Harry chose a different gemstone by himself, but unfortunately that couldn't be done at the moment. Even when they had access to the forbidden forest, it was unlikely that an appropriate gemstone could be found there. The forest was an excellent source of different types of wood, but for magical gemstones Harry had to go to special places. It would take time and most importantly, freedom of movement, a luxury that they lacked right then. Harry would have to learn to fight with his staff as it was for the moment. It was still better that having no staff, no wand, and therefore no weapon to fight with, as was the case with the people that had to make theirs.

He tried the same spell a few more times, until he finally managed to control the power enough to keep both his equilibrium and aim, and he felt strangely re-vindicated. No stupid Dumbledore with stupid bloodstones will make him fail against Voldemort. He was going to survive the war and raise his child alongside Draco, no matter what. Snape looked adequately pleased, and finally announced the end of the day's training. Harry only spent a few minutes saying his good byes to his dragon and then ran to Slytherin's quarters to take care of Lillian.

He used Sally's passage to enter the castle. He tried his best to avoid people. Hogwarts was full, and it seemed that the only part of it that was not populated were the dungeons. That was fine with Harry. It meant that he at least was getting some peace there. It vexed him the way that people looked at him, as if he was the one who should be taking care of the entire resistant movement, as if he was some kind of leader. He was not a leader! And he certainly wasn't the one responsible of directing the war efforts! For God's sake! Couldn't people see how young he actually was? All that he seemed to hear whenever he risked to wander the castle was baffled noises of awe, or some muffled expressions of hope that he will kill the Dark Wizard effortlessly, comparing him with Merlin. It was insane. All because of the stupid staff! No matter that he was not the only wizard in the castle training with one. Every bonded seemed attached to theirs, and not even Snape was letting his staff alone for one minute. Even so, it looked like the rest of the refugees could only see Harry's staff. The Gryffindor boy wished that someone other than him managed to kill Voldemort. Maybe then the wizarding world would stop idolizing him and would leave him alone!

He entered directly to the bedroom and stopped beside the massive bed. Sally was not there, surely she had departed recently, not a day had passed by without she visiting. Harry sat on the bedside, and looked at the sleeping figure of the blond boy. He preferred to think about Draco's state as sleeping and not comatose. He hated the way the mediwizard made emphasis in that word, as if Harry needed the constant reminder that Draco's condition was critical. The Gryffindor swore that if the man insisted in treating Draco as if the boy was already dead, he was going to practice the _sectum sempra_ with him. But he didn't want to think about anything anymore. He gingerly put his staff leaning against the nearest wall and returned to Draco. He was happy to see that colour had returned to the blonde's skin, his lips were not dry anymore, and he was warm and not deathly cold. He was getting better, Harry was sure, all he needed was some time and a bit of help with his magic.

The Gryffindor boy took one of the blonde's hands and closed his eyes, breathing deeply and relaxing. He concentrated, looking for the subtle feel of Draco's core. He found it easily, and within seconds he had also found the bond connecting them. It had required some insistence on Sally's part and the reassurance of his own dragon, Dante, to convince Harry that the bond that had been formed when Draco had conceived was still there. He only had needed to find it and consciously activate it again, so he could continue to give Draco some of his own magic.

Harry smiled at the feeling of Draco's magic strengthening. The mediwizard had told them that the blonde's core had stopped to pull from the environment's energy and that it would be unwise to force any kind of magic into it, but he had not known that the bond between the two boys had not been severed, he could not find any trace of it at all. Harry had not told anyone but Snape about his reactivation of said bond, and he had the professor's approval on the transfer of magic, with the condition that he didn't exhaust himself. Draco's core had reacted very well to Harry's magic and the boy was hopeful that soon it wouldn't need help to maintain the blonde's recovery. Harry finished the transfusion of the day and reluctantly let go of Draco's magic and opened his eyes. The blond boy continued in the same position, there had been no apparent change. Harry tried to not feel disappointed, every day was the same after all, he'll just continue with his routine until Draco returned to him. He squeezed the pale hand lightly and leaned on to give the blond a soft kiss on the lips. Then he looked over to where the bassinet was. It was empty. Harry sighed and left Draco's side to go in search of his daughter.

The bedroom door opened to a large sitting room. Harry found Hermione on one of the couches, cooing at little Lillian. She had an assortment of books and parchment on the low table in front of her, so Harry supposed that she had been studying, and Lillian had woken up and interrupted her. Mrs. Weasley was nowhere to be seen. Harry walked towards Hermione, and the girl lifted her head when she heard his steps.

"Oh, Harry! You're here already! Did you enter the bedroom directly?"

"Yes, it's faster and I don't bump into anyone. Where's Mrs. Weasley?"

"She left a few minutes ago, she's gone to see Ron."

Harry nodded his comprehension and sat besides Hermione, taking his little girl from her. Lillian's eyes were wide open and she peered at him curiously. Harry smiled at her while thinking about Ron. Everyone had been greatly relieved when Ron had been among the firsts patients to arrive. He was in the same boat as Draco; apparently there was nothing the mediwizards could do but wait for him to get out of his comma on his own. Harry had wondered if he could do the same transfusion of magic that he was doing with Draco, but Snape had told him it was not possible. Magic-transfusion was a delicate and dangerous procedure, the only reason Harry could do it with the blond Slytherin was because of the nature of the bond they shared. It would be stupid to try the same with anyone else. Harry had brooded all afternoon, but had had no choice other than wait for his friend to recover. The Weasleys and Hermione had taken to check on Ron several times a day, and Harry envied their ability to go around the castle without being ogled at. He thought that there hadn't been a time when he had resented his boy-who-lived status more. Previously, when public pressure had been too much for him, he always had had his friends. Now, when his best friend needed him, he couldn't do anything to help! It was frustrating!

Lillian lifted one hand towards his glasses and Harry put a finger for her to grab. She babbled a bit while still looking at him, and the Gryffindor started a monologue about his day and how happy he was to be home with his cute daughter. Hermione left them after telling Harry that Mrs. Weasley had ordered him some dinner, and to get rest. Harry said his goodbyes, and occupied himself with feeding his child. He wished for Voldemort to hurry up and attack already. He was not going to put his daughter's and his life on hold forever because of a crazy megalomaniac!

* * *

Bella entered the chamber quietly. She had managed to apparate to the old Lestranges' manor and to find the door. The magic had recognized her, as it should. She took out her wand, ready to attack whoever could be in the place. The wild magic of the chamber surrounded her and she shivered at the sensation. She had been drunk with power the first time she had entered. This was made for her kind, for the purebloods to reign over the wizarding world! Filthy half-bloods and blood-traitors shouldn't be allowed to possess it!

She remembered her anger when she had first realized that blood purity, as she understood it, was of no consequence for a dragon to choose a wizard. The ignorant beasts had no idea of how important it was that the wizarding world remained pure! Her anger had turned to rage when she had been informed that the Dark Lord had not been considered fit to bond. There had been no dragon that chose him when he had reached the peak of his magic. How had they dared? The Dark Lord was the most powerful wizard ever to walk the Earth! He had to own the dragon's amazing energy! The foul creatures had no right to deny her Lord his rightful heritance!

She had tried to pass her bond to her Master. She had ordered his dragon to sever the bond and do the rite with the Dark Lord. The beast had refused and had died while the Master had been trying a ritual to transfer the bond to himself. Her cousin had dared to tell her that her sanity had died entirely with the dragon. Ha! As if the creatures had any hold on her at all!

She considered the structure of the chamber. The entire building was made of magic, and the portal to the dragons' realm was somewhere up in the ceiling, as well as the passages for the dragons to enter the real world. Bellatrix had never known where the creatures had come from. Never had bothered to learn the entire story. She had stubbornly held onto her belief that the rainbow dragons were entities summoned by the wizards to boost their own magic and nothing more. They were magical creatures. No magical creature had more status than a wizard! To her eyes, the dragons had rebelled against wizard-kind. They had failed to acknowledge her master as the mighty, all-powerful mage he was. They deserved to be destroyed for that! The Dark Lord wanted the chamber gone and Bella was going to obey his wishes!

She raised her wand and thought about the spells that could serve her purpose. She gritted her teeth when she remembered her staff. The blasted thing had disintegrated when her dragon had died. She cursed the beast under her breath. It had had the gal to deny her a powerful weapon! It didn't matter, she was going to demolish the chamber anyway, and she'd be her Master's favourite once more!

"What are you doing here?"

Bella turned on her heels at the hissed words, coming to face one of the few that had survived the first war. A filthy half-blood. She'll have the opportunity to finish one more of her Master's enemies.

"Augustus… how kind of you to welcome me!"

"Traitor! You have no right to be here!"

"I have more right than you, half-blood! You're just scum! You should never have had the privilege of this power! You stain it with your touch!"

"You are the one who stains this sacred place with your presence! How dare you put a foot inside?"

Bellatrix let lose a mad laugh and cast a crucio at her opponent. Augustus didn't move. Bella's eyes widened in surprise when the bolt of magic dispersed without touching its target, absorbed by the structure of the chamber. The man gave her a huff of pity.

"Fool! Have you forgotten bitch? This place is neutral for wizard-kind! No fight is allowed here!"

The witch roared in rage and started casting powerful curses against the pillars. It was no use. Even the strongest of her reductos was absorbed without making a dent in the beautiful surface. Augustus watched in fascinated disgust as the woman lost what little sanity she had left.

"Stop it! I don't know what you're trying to do, but it's useless! Get out of here!"

'**No! She's never leaving this place again!'**

Bella finally stopped and turned towards the deep voice. Behind Augustus had appeared a dragon, the biggest one she had ever seen; its colour was an odd mixture of copper and turquoise. The angry yellow eyes looked at her intensely. Bella aimed her wand towards the beast, starting to mutter the ancient spell that will grant her control of a common dragon. A roar to her left distracted her and she turned to see two more approaching dragons, slightly smaller than the first, one was a vibrant red and black, and the other a pale pink. She walked backwards, considering her options. She tried the spell on one of the dragons and looked in horror how her magic dissolved as soon as it left her wand. She turned around wildly; realizing belatedly that the dragons had surrounded her. Augustus had wisely gotten out of the creature's way and was watching form the farthest corner of the chamber he could manage. Bellatrix started casting hexes and curses, in mad desperation, none of them even taking form.

"Stop! I order you to stop!"

'**Filthy traitor! You don't have any power to order us anything!'**

"I'm not a traitor! I'm a witch from the noble and ancient house of Black! And you must obey me!"

One of the dragons moved its head and gave her a powerful blow on the back. She screamed and flown a few meters, losing her wand when she hit the floor. She turned around quickly to see the biggest dragon over her, a huge paw pressed her down and Bellatrix gasped. The creature applied enough force to crack some ribs, but nothing more.

'**Stupid, fragile human. So easy to crush.'**

"Stop! You'll pay for this! You can't murder a witch! You're a creature! We summoned you! You belong to us!"

'**Ignorant girl! We belong to no one! You are nothing without us! We are magic! And we decide who is adequate enough to endure our power!'**

Bellatrix screamed as the pressure increased and her ribs and some vertebra broke. She stopped feeling her extremities and blood went up her throat and mouth. She was still breathing when a sea of purple flames engulfed her.

* * *

Ginny stood in front of the gargoyle that will grant her entrance to the headmaster's office. She had arrived to Hogwarts with the Longbottoms and knew how to activate the special portkey. She was not coherent at the moment. Her mind had been in chaos since Malfoy had attacked her. For days she had wanted to scream, to cry, to bang her head against the nearest wall, anything! She couldn't name what she had been feeling; she only knew that it was eating her from the inside out. No one cared of course. No one had ever cared.

A voice resonated in her thoughts. A sweet, sensuous voice. It made her feel wanted, useful. It promised vague, sweet things. Everything will be ok. She only had to follow the voice's instructions. She knew it was Tom. How could she ever forget what it had been like to have Tom Riddle in her head? She had felt his presence prod into her dreams some days ago, and she had welcomed him. She had craved for that presence. It was as if she had been missing an essential part of her. He had used her, forced her to do terrible things, but at least he had listened. Tom Riddle had been the only one to really listen to her. The only one she had ever trusted entirely. She didn't care anymore if he ended up killing her. She had lost everything she had ever wanted. There was no life for her anymore, without Harry there was no reason to go on. She let him have her thoughts and allowed herself to be possessed entirely, her mind loosing itself in the sweet promise of oblivion.

* * *

Snape watched from his window as the fragile figure of the youngest Weasley walked towards the gates. The previous headmasters' portraits had alerted him that the girl had taken the portkey. It was no problem, he could stop her then and there; he only needed a well-aimed hex. Somehow he was not surprised that Ginevra had succumbed to the Dark Lord's call. He had wondered if anyone had taken the time to check on her since the incident with Riddle's diary. He had known that her family had not wanted to acknowledge it. They had simply been glad that the girl had looked fine, and had never talked about the event again. Foolish! They should have known that a possession was no simple affair. The girl should have been sent to a specialized mediwizard! He wouldn't be surprised if she had been suffering from the dark influence all those years.

From one of the portraits the anxious voice of Dumbledore could be heard.

"You have to stop her Severus, and reinforce the wards! Voldemort can not be allowed to enter Hogwarts!"

Snape toyed with his staff, thinking about the possibilities. Inside his mind, another voice growled in warning.

'_**No, let her go with it. Let them break the wards. The traitor is dead. We are ending this now!'**_

The Potions Master smirked and retired from the window. He would have to alert the others. They would be fighting before the first light broke.


	27. A Dragon's Revenge

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Warning: **Character death.

**Chapter 26****. A Dragon's Revenge.**

Ginny walked out of the gates and took the path that would lead her to Hogsmead. She didn't get far before she stood face to face to an entourage of masked men. Lord Voldemort himself was at the lead. He took a few steps towards the girl and raised his hand. Ginny gave him the portkey and the password to activate it. The man was very pleased with his success.

"Good. This would be very useful. You're not needed anymore Weasley. _Avada kedabra_."

The girl's body fell to the ground with a soft thump. Voldemort barely spared her a look before turning to his followers.

"Now we have the key into Hogwarts! We will crush them all!"

Shouts of agreement answered his declaration. The army moved on to surround the castle. The new day will find Hogwarts destroyed.

Once in front of the gates, Lestrange talked to their Master.

"My Lord, how are we going to proceed? I doubt that the portkey will take many of us at the same time."

"I only need five of you, my dear Rodolphus. You'd weaken the wards from the inside, and we'd help from the outside. The wards should break in no time."

"Understood Master."

The five Death Eaters were ready in seconds, and they activated the portkey that would let them inside Hogwarts' grounds.

* * *

"I don't understand. You are more powerful than the wizards. How could Voldemort kill so many of you?"

Harry couldn't sleep. He kept turning around and looking constantly to the other side of the bed, towards Draco's unmoving form. He got up twice to check on Lillian, who was sleeping peacefully. Finally he risked calling his dragon to have someone to talk to. Dante wasn't still so fond of him. He was undertrained and very much ignorant of history and tradition for the dragon's tastes, but he was making up for it with his will to learn. The dragon had been willing to answer his firsts questions about James and how the man had been furious when informed that Snape got to have a dragon and Sirius didn't. He had gotten over it quickly when Dante had lectured him about how little choice the wizards really had in terms of a bond. You simply covered the dragons' requirements or you didn't, and Sirius, though inventive and skilful, would have never had the level of power required to sustain a bond. The dragon hoped to not have to give the same lecture to James' son. Harry put his worries to rest. He really didn't think that he had any place to question how a magical creature chose a wizard to bond with. Besides, he had seen Snape in action, and he knew that the man was a force to be reckoned with. The boy was more interested in knowledge. He felt like Hermione trying to absorb everything that the books could offer her. At the moment he wanted to know what had happened for Voldemort to be able to kill even one of the Rainbow Dragons.

Dante was willing to enlighten him; he was starting to see that the boy had better sense than his father.

'**While we are in breeding season, our bodies are vulnerable. We all depend on our physical bodies to survive on this realm. The amount of energy required for us to lay an egg leaves us depleted. We share the magic with our mates, like you with yours.'**

Harry sighed and looked for a second towards Draco. Both Sally and Dante insisted in calling them mates, but Harry was unsure of what exactly there was between the two of them.

"We're not mates. Not really."

Dante made a noise of impatience.

'**You have a cub together. Your bond is so strong that is allowing you to share magic. What else could you be?'**

"Maybe it's simple for you, but for us there should be something more than having a child because of some spell."

'**Like what?'**

"Like love. To feel… something for each other, you know? To want to share your life with the other person."

'**And you don't feel any of that?'**

"Well… Yes, but… I don't know if it's love, I mean, I thought it was, but then the seal was broken, you came along, and I was informed that there had been a spell to force us to conceive Lillian… I'm just afraid that everything I feel it's only the side effects of a spell."

'**That's foolish. Feelings can't be created from a ****single spell.'**

"But, there are ways to manipulate a person's feelings with magic. Wizards had created all kinds of lust spells, and love potions. The spell was trying to get us together, I suppose it did something to make us more agreeable with each other."

'**Manipulation is not creation. And magic is energy. It doesn't think, and certainly doesn't feel. It reacts to the intention of the one using it. And it's useless if it doesn't have a target to work on.'**

"That sounds almost philosophical."

Harry sighed and looked at the blond again.

"I suppose I'd have to wait until he wakes up to get things settled."

Just then something attracted Harry's attention. He narrowed his eyes and turned completely to climb the bed until he reached the other boy's head. Draco's lips moved softly, as if he was muttering something. Harry held his breath and extended a hand to caress the closer cheek. Draco turned towards him and his body actually moved, so he was lying on his side. Harry could have yelled from excitement.

"Draco! Oh God, are you awake? Draco!"

'**I wouldn't wake him up. He's still weak. He needs to rest.'**

"But… but he moved!"

'**Out of the comma then. It doesn't mean that he's ready to wake up just yet.'**

"Oh my God! I have to tell Snape! He has to check him up!"

Harry was on his feet in a second, looking for his clothes and ready to bolt towards Snape's rooms, without thinking that it was the wee hours of the night and that the man would surely curse him for waking him up at midnight. The boy had just finished to put on his trousers when a loud noise reached him from the outside. It was like something crashing. Then he felt the earth tremble and looked to his dragon in alarm. The creature gave a low growl and moved towards the passage that would get him out of the castle.

'**The wards are broken****. Seems like it's time at last.'**

"W-what?"

The Gryffindor cursed. Of all the bloody moments to attack! Voldemort just had to have the worst timing ever! He hurriedly took Lillian out of her bassinet, and laid her with care besides her other dad. Draco instinctively curled around the little bundle, and Harry felt more at ease. He erected a ward protecting both of them, and then exited the bedchamber.

* * *

The rebels were all alerted of the falling of the wards. With nearly military efficiency everyone was at their previously designed spots and ready to defend themselves. They were prepared for the noise and the first Death Eaters barrelling into the grounds. Everyone attacked, defending the castle against Voldemort's forces. Spells were thrown back and forth. Dark and light wizards only focused on keeping themselves alive, and followed the rush of the battle.

Voldemort surveyed everything from an advantageous spot. He was crossed that his forces could not manage to simply wipe the rebels out of the face of Earth. The light wizards were resisting even when they were clearly outnumbered. The Dark Lord noticed that there were several witches and wizards holding staffs. Those were the ones doing the most damage to his forces, holding the giants and dementors at bay. He looked at the castle and snarled in despise. There were dragons on the towers and the battlements. The magnificent creatures looked like translucent statues, silently watching without moving. Their owners must have ordered them not to intervene. They surely feared the damage that the dragons could do to Hogwarts and to their own forces if their fire went out of control.

What foolishness! What was the point of having power if one didn't intent to use it? Voldemort had no such qualms. He raised his wand to the sky and chanted the spell to summon the dragons that were under his command. He was going to show everyone that he was the only one that truly deserved unlimited power.

Harry was barely holding himself. He could only use basic spells. Fortunately his protection was pretty good. He had managed to protect himself and a good number of the rebels fighting near him. He had already destroyed a dementor that would have attacked Hermione from behind. He had had little time to be amazed at the very solid patronus that his staff had created; the enemy would not cease the attack. The boy was starting to feel tired. There were too many Death Eaters, along with Imperiused Aurors, giants, dementors and werewolves. It was too much. Harry wondered if they would be able to resist long enough for Voldemort to enter the battle. They only needed to kill the mad wizard and then maybe they'd have a chance.

"Why aren't they helping us?"

Neville shouted at his back, while he was furiously throwing hexes at two Aurors. Harry didn't need to ask. He knew the other boy was talking about the dragons. It appeared that they would content themselves with watching. The bonded were doing a titanic job of protecting their allies and attacking the most dangerous enemies, they had even convinced the other countries' bonded to help. Harry knew that it was the only thing that had prevented the rebels from being thoroughly smashed on the first minutes of the battle. That, and the fact that it was evident that the werewolves and dementors were distracted by the dragons' presence, and didn't get too close to the castle. The dragons however would not move. Snape had warned him that it was unlikely that the creatures would want to get themselves involved into the actual fight. Dragons didn't intervene in wizards' affairs. Harry supposed that they would only wait until the bonded took Voldemort down, so they could be sure that the wizard who had caused them such grave problems was dead. Harry could only shrug at Neville's question and continue firing reductos at the enemy.

After long minutes of heated battle, there was a bright flash from somewhere near the gates, and Harry could feel dread with the powerful release of magic. Soon, a blast of fire hit the border of the forbidden forest and Harry looked in fear at the _other_ dragons that had arrived. It was just then that the Rainbow dragons moved, roaring in warning before launching against their counterparts. The sky was bright with flames.

"Holy Fuck!" Neville yelled at being almost fried alive when a blast of fire hit the ground too close to him. The battle had just turned more deadly.

"I guess that was why they didn't attack sooner." Said Hermione at Harry's back. "There is no telling ally from foe. They can destroy everything!"

Harry suspected that it was exactly what Voldemort wanted. The coward didn't even have the decency to fight in his own battle! He had to find the maniac and make him stop somehow!

A huge mass of intertwined dragon bodies crashed noisily near the lake. The small earthquake that it produced almost thrown Harry off his feet. He barely remained in control and was able to dodge an _Avada Kedabra_. In theory, the staff should be capable of creating a shield that would deflect even the killing curse, but Harry was not testing the theory any time soon. He still hadn't mastered his staff, and a deflected curse was like a lost bullet. He was not going to take the risk to accidentally kill someone. The Gryffindor boy tried to get past the fighting and locate Voldemort. Surprisingly, the duels were slowly stopping, as everyone started to be more preoccupied shielding themselves from the flames than attacking. People were looking for cover, and the only shields that seemed to resist the onslaught of the fire were the bonded ones.

Harry ran through the battlefield. He could not use his scar to find Voldemort anymore. The connection had been lost when he had bonded with his dragon. Fortunately he didn't have to search much. Quite suddenly, there was an ample space free of fire and fighting and Voldemort was in front of him, sneering with despise. The battle seemed to be put on hold. People were trying to extinguish several fires and the roars of the dragons could still be heard, but apparently they had stopped their direct attacks. Harry aimed his staff at Voldemort, who made a disgusted gesture.

"You… Potter. You have a bond. You filthy brat! How could you be considered apt to have a staff? You're not worthy of it!"

"Really? Who's the one that is trying to steal something that he didn't deserve?"

Voldemort gave a hiss of rage and started firing curses at Harry. The boy barely had time to put on a shield. He could deflect the attack, but was unable to counter it. The Dark Lord gave the equivalent of a smirk.

"You can't even control it properly. You are nothing Potter! You are unworthy of the bond!"

Harry was trying to focus on a spell. He knew that the staff was powerful. He only needed to direct that power with his will. He was about to answer the man's provocation with a well-aimed cutting-curse, when he felt the ground shake and a loud roar was heard at his back. The boy jumped out of the way and looked in awe at the big creature advancing towards the two enemies. It was the biggest he had yet seen, and its scales gave the impression to be white. He was unsure of what to do; fortunately someone grabbed him by the arms and pulled him to a safe distance.

The Gryffindor looked around to see Snape still with a firm grip on his shoulder. The boy also noticed that all activity had ceased. The dragons were flying in circles above them and some of the Rainbow dragons had returned to the Castle's towers. The dementors were gone, and everyone else was looking expectantly towards the Dark Lord. Harry turned again to the dragon and wondered what it was going to do.

Voldemort looked in bafflement at the creature. He masked his surprise and the light undercurrent of fear quickly. He didn't fear the beast! He was powerful enough to conquer it! Here was the perfect opportunity to do so, and he was going to finally prove, once and for all, that he was the mightiest wizard alive! He aimed his wand, ready to start chanting the spell to put the dragon under his control, when the creature started talking, looking at him with intense yellow eyes.

'**So, this is the human that believes himself to be powerful enough to join one of us?'**

The Dark Lord bristled in aggravation. How dare the beast talk to him like that?

"How dare you! I'm no mere human! I'm Salazar Slytherin's heir! I'm the most powerful wizard alive! You have no right to deny me what is rightfully mine!"

'**Stupid human! So full of yourself! Salazar would be ashamed of having produced such a spawn!'**

Voldemort saw red.

"Shut it! You're just a beast! How could you know anything about the great Slytherin?"

'**Ha! Easily enough human, many centuries ago it was I who chose Salazar to ****share MY power! He was a real descendant from the original line!'**

Many gasps were heard, both at the implication of the dragon's words, and the realization that this had been one of the beings that had created Hogwarts. The Dark Lord was furious.

"I am his rightful heir! How dare you question my bloodline? I have Slytherin's power! My magic is even more powerful than his! Everything that was his, is rightfully mine!"

'**Really?'**

The dragon made a gesture that could have passed for curiosity. He got even closer to the dark wizard, who stubbornly kept his ground.

'**So, you believe that you have what it takes to bond with us. How interesting. A broken soul, damaged beyond recognition. And you actually think that you could tolerate the onslaught of pure wild magic of a bond?'**

Voldemort's eyes narrowed. He glared at the dragon, defying him to test his might.

"Magic is power! It has no qualms! I have enough power to control any magic!"

The dragon laughed. Harry was petrified. It actually laughed! The boy, along with every bonded and some others that were only partially understanding the conversation, looked in horror as the magnificent creature lifted his left paw and promptly cut it open with its teeth. Harry couldn't believe what he was seeing. The dragon offered the bloodied appendage to the Dark Lord.

'**Very well, let's see how you deal with it. I assume you know what to do.'**

"No!" Harry yelled in panic. He was about to dash over and prevent Voldemort from taking the blood, but Snape stopped him.

"No Potter! You can not intervene!"

"But he can't! If Voldemort has a bond he's gonna destroy us all! Do they not care about that?"

"Wizards' affairs are not the dragons' problem. They could care less if we all kill each other! No one is allowed to interfere in a bond, and that's final! Only the dragons decide which wizard is worthy of their power, no one else has any say in it!"

"B-but…!"

"No 'buts' Potter! It will kill you if you dare to approach! We'd deal with the Dark Lord however we can!"

Harry looked at the sour man in stupefaction. He quickly turned around to see if any other would try to stop Voldemort. He encountered many horrified faces, and several confused ones, but none of the bonded looked like they were planning to do anything to interrupt the proceedings. He clenched his fists in frustration and looked over to the Rainbow dragon in time to see Voldemort's gesture of glee at finally been given what he wanted. The dark wizard accepted the offered blood and sucked greedily at it.

Harry lifted his staff and stood ready to attack Voldemort the moment the bonding ritual ended. He didn't care if the dragon killed him afterwards. He was not going to allow Voldemort to have access to unlimited power! He looked intently as the dark wizard took a few drinks of the dragon's blood, and then gasped in utter surprise when the most horrible scream of pain was heard.

Voldemort lapped at the rich blood hungrily, already chanting in his mind the ritual words that Bellatrix had foolishly taught him. He felt the burn start in his stomach and expand trough his body, latching onto his very core. He waited for the sudden rush of power that he was sure he would feel. However, what he perceived was the heat intensifying until it became unbearable. He stopped sucking and screamed when the pain suddenly hit him with force. He was burning from inside! He could sense the flames eating away his magical core and his very insides with it. He fell to the ground, still screaming, and started to claw at his face and torso, unaware that his entire body was alight with blue fire.

All the people gathered at the battlefield, Death Eaters and rebels alike, watched in terrified fascination as the self-proclaimed Dark Lord was burned alive, screeching and howling in pain. Eventually the screaming stopped, but Harry couldn't take his eyes from the amorphous mass that was still burning. The flames didn't go out until there was nothing left of the once powerful wizard. Everyone stayed rotted to the spot, gaping in amazement, many didn't dare believe what they had just witnessed. Harry risked looking at the dragon and could have sworn that the creature was smirking in satisfaction. Its deep rough voice took everyone back to reality.

'**Stupid wizards. The threat is gone. We are in peace again.'**

It extended its wings. Harry looked as the dragon seemed to become even more translucent, until only a blurry outline of its body was visible. There was no noise of wings flapping. No sensation of a big body taking to the sky. The dragon just disappeared. Harry blinked and turned to look at a bewildered Snape.

"What just happened?"

The man scowled and answered slowly. "I'm not quite sure myself."

Suddenly many roars were heard, and blasts of fire started to hit the ground all around them.

"Holy fuck! What the hell is happening?"

Snape took a look upwards while protecting himself and Potter with his staff, and soon understood. The 'normal' dragons were no longer under Voldemort's spell, and they were furious. They had to get back into Hogwarts quickly.

"Run! Everyone get cover!"

People were already screaming and running for their lives. There was pandemonium as everyone tried to run and protect themselves at the same time. The flames were everywhere. A good deal of people were fortunate enough to get inside the castle and watch from the windows as the sea of fire extended itself all around them and well into the forbidden forest. The castle was not touched, but people freaked out a bit when it started to get really hot inside. It lasted a few moments, and then the dragons flew away, leaving the survivors to try and extinguish the inferno that was now Hogwarts' grounds.

* * *

Snape looked as Paraximedes moved his wand all around Draco for the third time. It was evident that the mediwizard couldn't believe his eyes. Not only the young Malfoy had gotten out of the comma, but also he seemed to be perfectly healthy and only sleeping. He won't wake up, but Snape suspected it wouldn't be long before the blond opened his eyes again. Finally, Paraximedes shook his head in flustered bewilderment.

"I don't have any idea of what happened or how, but it seems that he has recovered. He should be waking up soon."

"Shall we be expecting any complications? After all, his magic core was almost depleted."

"Well, I certainly don't know what to tell you Severus. Under normal circumstances he should be dead by now, so I don't think we can make any guesses about him. Apparently he's well enough and should not have any troubles."

"I suppose that's good enough for now. I'd tell Potter to keep an eye for him and inform me immediately as soon as he awakes."

"Don't you think it best if you place a monitoring charm on him. Harry is going to be at the big feast and the party, I seriously doubt he'd be in any condition to take care of Draco."

"On the contrary. I bet he'd be even grateful for the excuse to not attend the festivities. I believe that he'd rather be with his daughter anyway."

Paraximedes looked at the potions master sceptically. It was hard to believe that a young man like Harry wouldn't want to spend his nights at loud parties with friends. Especially when the wizarding world was free at last from the Dark Lord, and he was one of the heroes been clamoured by the masses. He believed that Harry couldn't wait to bask on the attention. However, he had to see how wrong he was when the boy immediately accepted Snape's instructions, and even assured the man that he wasn't going to leave Draco's side until the blond waked up. He assured Paraximedes that the party wasn't that important to him, and that he preferred to be there when the Slytherin recovered consciousness. The mediwizard shook his head in wonder as he and the headmaster left Slytherin's chambers.

Harry's friends kept him company for a while, but the boy soon sent them away, telling them to enjoy the party. Hermione gave him a wholehearted hug, which he returned enthusiastically, and then admonished him to not spend the night pacing in the bedroom. He should have some rest too, and she didn't want him passing his worry on to little Lillian. He promised her that he was going to take things easy, and she left more at ease.

Harry fed Lillian and changed her nappy before putting her in her bassinet. Then he dragged an armchair to Draco's bedside and got comfortable looking at the sleeping pale face. He was not going to miss Draco's eyes opening. He was ready to wait all night if he needed to.

* * *

Draco heard a child crying and been hushed softly. A familiar voice was singing a lullaby, apparently trying to get the child to sleep. He stirred on the bed, his eyes felt heavy and his body stiff. He didn't want to wake up just yet, but the soft noise wouldn't go away. The child was no longer crying, but neither was it asleep because the voice was doing cooing noises, and a baby laugh resounded in the background. A baby. Draco slowly took notice of the bed he was in. Something was not clicking in his mind and it was starting to worry him enough to try and open his eyes. His eyelashes seemed glued together, and when he finally succeeded in opening one eye he only saw the blurry outline of things.

He moaned and blinked several times, trying to regain focus. The room he was in was only lit by a lamp at the very far corner of it. The light was dimed, so the room was mostly dark, and he couldn't identify where he was. He whimpered and tried to move. He heard a sharp intake of breath and almost immediately a figure was standing at his bedside, blocking what little light he had.

"Draco? You're awake!"

He looked upwards at the shadow looming over him.

"H-Harry…?" He frowned at the horrible sound of his voice. The Gryffindor boy went out of his line of vision for a moment. Draco could still hear him moving things and talking nervously.

"Oh my God! Draco it's so good you're finally awake! I was really worried for a while!"

A sense of deja-vú hit Draco, and he smiled in amusement. Suddenly the light became much brighter.

"Oh gosh! Damnit Harry, I'm not entirely awake yet!"

"Oh, sorry! Sorry…"

The light dimed slightly and Harry returned to his side. He helped him to sit up and gave him a glass of water. Draco drank thirstily and his throat felt much better.

"How are you feeling?"

"I… confused I think… Where are we?"

"We're in Hogwarts. In Salazar Slytherin's rooms."

Draco gaped shamelessly at the Gryffindor. Harry had seated on the bedside, and was looking at him warily.

"H-how could we…? What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Asked Harry nervously.

Draco blinked again. The last thing he remembered was been in a lot of pain… He did a quick scanning of his mind, finding it empty of dragon's presence. He slowly took his hands over his stomach and clenched them at his midsection with unusual force. Realization gradually overcame him, and he started sobbing. Harry was aghast. He immediately went to sit beside Draco and took the distraught boy in his arms.

"Shh, Draco it's ok. Everything is ok."

"M-my baby… H-harry… w-where… oh gods, please…"

"Don't cry, please. Don't cry Draco. She's fine. She's really fine. Here, I'd bring her over, just try to be calm. Ok?"

Draco nodded fervently, and Harry left him to go to a bassinet that was some paces from the bed. The blond hadn't noticed the piece of furniture until that moment, and he looked expectantly as Harry took out a small bundle of blankets. He held his breath as the Gryffindor approached him and helped him to take the bundle in a comfortable position. Draco looked in fear and wonder at the little face and the blue eyes looking up at him for the first time. He felt tears running down his cheeks as he tentatively touched lightly the soft hair on her head. He gulped a few times before he felt his voice working again.

"Oh Merlin… she's so beautiful…" He looked up at Harry again. The Gryffindor was smiling at him and he took encouragement from that. "H-Harry… what's her name?"

The black-haired boy's smile grew and he sat down again, in a way that he could look at Draco directly.

"Lillian Berenice Potter-Malfoy. I know we never really discussed the surnames, but there's still time to…"

"No, it's perfect like that. I don't want to change a thing."

Harry nodded a bit and Draco turned his eyes to their daughter again. He could feel the tension starting to rise from the other boy, and he worried. He noticed that Lillian had closed her eyes.

"She's asleep already."

"Oh, I'll put her in her bassinet again." He took the baby away from Draco and the blond couldn't stop the feeling of emptiness that crept on him. He watched Harry's every move, fighting the irrational fear that had popped in his mind that Harry would take his baby and leave. He actually sighed in relief when the Gryffindor put Lillian in her bassinet and turned towards him again.

"She's a really good baby. She doesn't cry much."

Harry stood awkwardly at the bedside for a moment, and Draco wanted to cry. There was no spell anymore, no bond between them that could force Harry to stay at his side. Draco didn't need Harry's proximity anymore, and he realized that the Gryffindor must know the truth by then. He bit his lips and wondered how angry the boy really was. How long had he been unconscious, and most importantly, why Harry was there at his side? Did that mean that there was still something between them? Or the boy just had wanted to take care of their baby? He didn't know what to say. What could he possibly say to make things better? To keep Harry at his side?

'_Please, if he wants to leave me, at least let me keep Lillian.'_

He looked at Harry fearfully, and gathered all his courage. He was ready to beg for forgiveness if that got him to stay at his daughter's side.

"H-Harry…"

"Do you want to lie down?" The Gryffindor interrupted, approaching the blond again and starting to rearrange the pillows. "I'm supposed to let Snape know that you're awake, but it's late and it can wait until the morning… unless you want me to call him and the mediwizard?"

Draco shook his head. He didn't want anything. He wanted to talk with Harry.

"Harry, I want to tell you…"

"You should rest, your core still needs to recover entirely…"

"No, Harry! Please…"

"Not now!"

Both boys were holding each other's arms by then. Draco was trembling in fear and frustration, but Harry's hold was firm. The Gryffindor sighed and rubbed Draco's upper arms tenderly.

"Not now Draco. You need to rest."

The blond sobbed and tried to control his breathing.

"B-but Harry… w-we need to talk… please, let- let me tell you…"

Harry put two fingers over Draco's mouth and the blond fell silent, looking desperately at the other boy with teary eyes. Harry could tell how scared the Slytherin was, and his hearth clenched, but he remained firm.

"We'd talk later. When you feel better. Right now you need to rest."

Draco tried to deny his need to sleep some more. He felt like he was floating about a big sea and there was no anchor for him to latch on. He sobbed louder and then started to cry quietly. Harry pulled him into his arms again.

"Don't cry Draco. Please. Everything is gonna be ok."

"… b-but I… I didn't… please forgive me…"

Harry hugged him tightly and kissed his head. Draco's crying subsided a bit.

"I promise that we'd talk. Just, not now. You need to get better and to assimilate all that has happened. When you'd recover, you'd think more clearly."

Draco nodded reluctantly and tried to put his sobbing into submission. Harry, sensing that the boy was calmer, released him from the hug and stared into the redish-grey eyes.

"We'll work out something, you'd see. Everything is gonna be fine."

The blond sighed and attempted a weak smile. He let Harry to manoeuvre him into a lying position and looked at the Gryffindor expectantly when he was tucked in the covers. Harry smiled and stood up, provoking a slight panic in Draco.

"I'll let you rest. I'll be just outside the door, so you can sleep comfortably."

Draco bolted upright when the black-haired boy turned to leave.

"Harry!"

The Gryffindor stopped and looked worriedly at the blonde's face.

"Please stay?"

Harry was going to say no, reasoning that it was probably better if they got some distance from each other, but he saw the fear and desperation in Draco's eyes, and he didn't have the heart to leave him. He walked over to the bed again and pulled the armchair. Draco made a distressing sound and pleaded for Harry to sleep with him, just that time. Harry's soul cracked. He couldn't leave Draco in such emotional pain. The boy clearly needed him. He changed into his pyjamas and climbed on the bed, allowing Draco to cuddle at his side and holding him close. The blond grabbed Harry's sleeping shirt like a lifeline and rested his head over Harry's shoulder, thanking him for staying. The Gryffindor kissed the blond head, and quietly said the word for the light to diminish again. He traced soft circles on the boy's back until he felt the Slytherin fall asleep, and followed shortly after.

**Author's note: Only one more to go...**


	28. Epilogue

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Author's note:** I'm going to divide the Epilogue in two parts, the next and last chapter is just some semblance of how things got to be a few years later, but I think it deserved to stand alone. As a result, the two chapters are shorter than usual, that's why I'm posting both of them the same day.

**Chapter 27. Epilogue**

Draco looked out the window to the luxurious garden that belonged to Malfoy Manor. He still missed Sally's presence in his head, but was happy that his dragon was free and getting stronger in her own world. He was trying to get his own life together, so Sally would be proud of him. At the moment he was in the nursery, waiting for Harry to arrive for his daily visit. It had been three months since Voldemort's defeat, and the wizarding world was still in chaos. Draco was glad that he had the manor, he knew that he wouldn't feel safe anywhere else, not even at Hogwarts. There were too many people that wanted him to be under arrest, and questioned along with Lucius. The boy couldn't suppress the shiver that ran down his spine whenever he thought about his father.

Lucius Malfoy wasn't dead, as they had believed. He had been discovered in the dungeons of Riddle manor when the aurors had barged in, looking for any Death Eaters that could have returned to the place. It had turned out that Malfoy senior had been drained of magic. Of course, no one in St. Mungo's had any idea of what could have happened, and those who had seen and been at Grimauld's place at Voldemort's attack hadn't say a word. They had simply left the wizarding world to speculate and wonder at the fact that Lucius Malfoy was now technically a Squib.

The ministry had reorganized temporally, keeping the surviving Death Eaters and sympathizers on various safe houses, and some even in Hogwarts' dungeons, until better arrangements could be made. Lucius, being his usual stuck up aristocrat, and having not realized just how much in trouble he had already been, had demanded the special treatment that all the old families' Heads were entitled to. That would have meant been allowed to go home, and stay under house arrest until the day of his trial. He could have even wormed his way out of the house arrest, claiming that he had been a prisoner and not a Death Eater by choice. Unfortunately for him, he was no longer recognized as Head of his family. The moment he had lost his magic, the magical records had changed, and Draco now appeared in every magically legal paper as the Malfoy's Head.

Draco had adamantly refused to see his father, and the house wards would not let Lucius get past the gate. Draco knew that even if he had wanted to welcome his father into the manor, the ancestral wards wouldn't grant the man entrance. They had been constructed to never accept anyone without magic. Squibs were not welcome in the Malfoy family, and if one was born, it was immediately killed by the manor's magic. Lucius apparently had been sure that there was a way for him to recover his magical core, but he needed his son's cooperation, and Draco was definitely not going to give it. His father could go fuck himself. The blond boy had still to recover from the fact that Lucius had been all ready to kill him and his baby. He was not going to let the man anywhere near his daughter.

Fortunately, Draco had a lot of support from his mother, though it had not come easy. The woman had returned as soon as Snape had informed her that it was safe to do so. She had been utterly shocked when she had seen her son holding a newborn. She had even fainted when they had informed her that Draco had had an "accident", consequence of the Dark Lord's wrath, and that the baby was not only his, but Potter's too. They never had quite explained their make-up version of what the "accident" had consisted of, and Narcissa hadn't really wanted to know. She had been distant, and extremely put out for a few days before she could accept to see her son, and talk with him. She had finally processed the fact that her offspring was not only gay, but had managed to produce a child with another boy. She had refused to be told about how exactly such a thing had happened, and had only asked if the baby was magical. Then she had wished to see her granddaughter.

Harry had been apprehensive, and hadn't liked the idea of Narcissa holding his baby girl. He had been with the wand ready when Draco had presented their daughter to the woman. He had been worried for nothing though, because as soon as Narcissa had looked to the infant's little face, she had fallen in love with her. In retrospective, Draco thought that it could have been much worse. He'd never forget the relief he had felt when Narcissa had cooed to his daughter. He'd rather keep at least one parent on his side, and he had been extremely depressed when it had looked like his mother would not even talk to him anymore.

After that first rocky approach, things had gotten better with Narcissa. She and Draco had moved to the manor, where two very worried house-elves had been waiting instructions. Narcissa had helped Draco with his baby daughter, and had been the one to deal with the wizengamot about Lucius' problem for him. The blond was eternally grateful to his mother.

Draco had taken Lillian with him. He and Harry had talked, and had made an agreement of sorts. They hadn't really resolved their emotional issues, and Harry was still dubious or what exactly he wanted to do with their "relationship". Draco had been relieved that the Gryffindor boy hadn't been as angry as he had imagined, but really, Harry had had three weeks to calm down, while he had been in coma. Severus had told him about the fit that the dark haired boy had thrown when he had realized the truth. That had made Draco be grateful for having been unconscious at the time, even if Harry still hadn't decided if he wanted to stay with him or not. However, one thing both of them had agreed on was that Lillian had taken priority. Harry had not wanted his little girl exposed to the press. It was bad enough that everyone was pressing him for an interview. They wanted him to explain the big tale about how he had finally destroyed Voldemort, and won the war.

Draco had been told about the battle. He had been baffled when Severus had explained the way the dark Lord had met his end. Harry's dragon had explained afterwards that Voldemort hadn't been fit to have a bond, not for lack of power or genealogy; it had been something far more important. The dragon's bond was a soul-bond. That was the reason why the oldest dragons didn't bond, the dragon could survive the dead of the wizard, but a wizard rarely survived the dead of the dragon. The dragon's magic was primal, wild and pure, and when bonded it needed something equal to take root. A soul was the essence of the being. The purest, unadulterated energy that a wizard could offer. Something that the Dark Lord had solely lacked. In his quest for immortality, Riddle had made his first horcrux while still in school, thus fragmenting and corrupting his own soul way before his magic had developed to its full potential. His magical core hadn't called for a dragon, because there had been nothing for the creature to bond with. What had kept Voldemort alive had been a deformed, twisted shadow that had still functioned as a soul, but had lost its purity forever. The mere contact with the dragon's magic had been enough to destroy it, and with it the wretched creature that had been Riddle once. The dragon that had offered to attempt such a bond had been greatly weakened, and a younger one would have died on the spot. But it had been necessary. They had wanted to be sure that the danger had been truly taken care of. The dragons weren't about to trust the wizards with such an important task as their own security and survival.

Of course, the bonded couldn't explain that to the press, or anyone outside their circle for that matter. Regulus' curse was still very much active. They were trying to break it. It was just impractical to not be able to explain the ritual of dragon bonding to people that still didn't have it, but will have to do it. They had been damn lucky that no one had been killed by an annoyed Dragon. But so far, they still had to bear to be closed mouthed about everything regarding the Rainbow Dragons. So, the press had started to make its own conclusions, based on the tales of the survivors. Somehow Harry had ended up commanding an entire army of dragons, and ordering the most powerful of them to destroy Voldemort. Draco still didn't know what to think about that particular version of the events.

Harry had refused to comment, and many reporters had been hunting him since. So, he had thought that Lillian would be safer staying with Draco. Malfoy manor guaranteed that no one would get near her, and he could still visit her as much as he wanted.

That had been their arrangement, nearly two months ago, and Harry hadn't failed to present himself in the manor once. Until that moment.

Draco sighed, looking at the darkening garden. It was getting late. Lillian had been bathed and was asleep in her crib. He doubted that Harry would arrive that day. The visits were, after all, mainly for Lillian's benefit. Draco should get used to the fact that there was nothing between Harry and himself, apart from having conceived a child together.

The blond got away from the window, and approached the crib. It was not the one that the twins had found at Grimmauld place, but it was beautiful nonetheless. Cedar made, with gothic details and a light, white cloth, covering it. Draco pulled away the fabric and looked at his baby girl for a while. Her hair had gotten slightly darker, but it was still a honey colour. Her now closed eyes had gone a dark blue, almost the shade of the deep sea. He smiled and caressed the little head. She had grown a lot over the past month and was already sleeping the entire night, which was a blessing for him, and the house-elves that were always waiting on hand and foot to attend the small mistress.

He sighed again in melancholy at the thought that his little girl would not have the advantage of growing up in a family with two parents. Even when Harry dotted on her, and had been constant with his visits, it was not the same as actually living with her. Draco had once considered to let Harry take Lillian and be the one to do the visits, but he couldn't bear the thought of been away from his baby. He needed her, and he loved her so much. Harry seemed to understand his feelings, and had promised him that he wouldn't have to give away Lillian. Draco had, after all, been the one to carry her the entire pregnancy. It wouldn't be fair to separate them.

Draco had offered Harry to come live with them in the manor, but the Gryffindor had refused. He still had much to consider about his life and how he wanted to lead it. He'd never abandon Lillian, but he needed space to think things over and reassert his own feelings. Draco really had had no choice but accept Harry's decision. He had let the Gryffindor go physically, now he only needed to let go emotionally. He wondered if he'd ever be capable to stop wishing that things had been different. To stop hoping that Harry would want to stay with him.

He looked at his baby girl and caressed her soft hair a last time before closing the thin draperies around the crib again. At least he had his daughter, they were both alive to try and construct themselves a future. A future with magic. That was more than he had expected at a time.

He was about to leave the nursery to have dinner, when the door opened quietly and Harry poked his head cautiously inside. Draco blinked in surprise. He honestly hadn't been waiting for the dark-haired boy to arrive anymore. Harry looked at him, and then at the crib before walking silently towards it. He spoke in a low voice while he did so.

"Is she asleep already?"

Draco breathed again, and nodded in confirmation. He didn't trust himself to speak just yet. Harry looked embarrassed.

"Damn. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to get here so late. I was in St. Mungo's."

"Oh. Something happened?" Asked Draco, really concerned about Harry's well being. However, Harry didn't look hurt or ill. The Gryffindor turned to him with a smile.

"Actually, yes. Ron has finally woken up!"

The look of excitement in Harry's face was enough to make Draco smile.

"Oh, good. I'm happy for the Weasleys and Granger. I suppose she was beside herself." He really meant it. The Weasleys had continued to support him, and they always sent their best wishes with Harry. Hermione, and the twins had even visited the manor to see him, and Lillian. Harry's smile grew, and his voice got a bit louder without reaching its usual volume.

"Of course she was. She even cried all over poor Ron! Everyone is very happy right now."

He thought Molly deserved a bit of happiness. After they had found Ginny's body, the Weasley matron had been utterly devastated. She had been blaming herself for not paying more attention to her daughter. Fortunately she wouldn't have to suffer another loss.

Suddenly, Harry seemed to blush, though it was already dark enough that Draco couldn't be really sure. The Gryffindor continued in a more subdued manner, like he was feeling guilty.

"He had much to catch on, and well… time just went by…"

"It's not a problem Potter. You deserve to be happy that your best friend has managed to survive. You don't need to feel guilty about it." Interrupted Draco.

Harry bit his lip, and smiled again. He took a quick look at the sleeping baby, and then motioned for Draco to get out of the nursery with him. The blond complied, and once they both were in the more illuminated hall, Harry took his hand, and stood in front of him.

"Say, will your mother mind if I invite you to dinner tonight? I feel like celebrating with you. If you want to, that is."

Draco looked shocked at the other boy. Was he inviting him to go out? He didn't know why he felt giddy all of a sudden. It wasn't as if Harry was asking for a date. Surely the Gryffindor was thinking about having a good time with a friend. He tried to cover his, completely uncalled for, excitement and spoke.

"N-no, I mean yes, of course I'd like to. I-I just have to let mother know, and we can go."

Harry's smile grew brighter and Draco melted inside. Gods. It was going to be so hard to see the man as just a friend. But he'd do it. He'd do whatever it took to keep Harry in his and Lillian's lives, even if it wasn't in the way he most desired.

Narcissa of course didn't have any objections to the two of them going out to dinner. They took the floo to the recently reconstructed Burrow, where Harry was staying at the moment, and from there Harry apparated them to a small café in Muggle London.

They enjoyed their time alone, away from the bother that the wizarding world would have meant. Draco thought that neither of them had had the chance to truly appreciate the end of the war on those last three months. But maybe this was a signal that things were returning to normal, and that they could go on with their lives again.

After dinner, both of them walked the dark streets of London. Harry was silent most of the time, but somehow Draco could feel that he was content. It was strange. Sometimes he could still feel Harry's aura close to him. The bond between them hadn't faded entirely. The dragons said that they were mates. Hell, even Snape had hinted at them been like a married couple! Draco couldn't suppress a smile of fondness at the thought. If only…

He sighed quietly, and Harry turned to look at him in question. Draco blushed in sudden embarrassment. Harry stopped.

They were somewhere near the new Ministry building, but Draco didn't know anything about it. Harry had wanted to take the blond to Moody, who had temporally taken over his old job as Head Auror, to give his testimony, and be done with legalities. That way Draco wouldn't have to sit at Lucius' trial. The head of the wizengamot had said that everything had been prepared to send the man to a muggle prison. Forever banned from the wizarding world. The only way Lucius had to avoid that fate was to have his family taking responsibility for his person. Harry didn't intend to give the man the chance to see Draco, and somehow convince the blond boy to accept that hideous task. As long as he was breathing, Draco was not going to have any contact with the man again!

He had been planning to talk with the boy about it during dinner, but it had just slipped his mind, and he had ended up enjoying mindless chat with his blond Slytherin. He realized that it was too late now to go to the Ministry, but he had supposed that he could show the new building to Draco and explain his plan, so they could go the next day. That thought however, had again fled his mind when he had heard Draco sighing longingly and felt the rush of embarrassment, which was not his, in his mind. He looked to Draco's face with some worry, and pulled the blond closer to him.

"Something's wrong?"

"N-no, I was just…" Draco sighed again, and lowered his eyes. "I was just wondering… It's nothing important really. No need to concern yourself."

He looked at Harry again with a smile, but it was a sad one, the Gryffindor could feel it. In that moment he forgot everything about Lucius. There had been something more important that he had wanted to tell Draco, but had not summoned enough courage to do so. He had decided what he wanted to do. He could only hope that the Slytherin would be willing to go on with it. Harry's hand suddenly caressed the blonde's cheek and Draco's eyes widened.

"Draco… I-I want to tell you something…"

The Slytherin didn't know what to do. In a moment Harry's body was too close to his, and the dark haired man's grip on his hand turned a bit stronger. Those eyes were looking at him with an intensity very akin to passion. Draco gulped. He could only nod. He was almost the same height as Harry, but at that moment he felt as if the Gryffindor towered over him. Harry licked his lips a few times before continuing.

"Listen, I have been thinking and… this thing between us… it's… I don't know, it's special, and I don't want it to go away… Would you want to try it? I mean, try us… to be together?"

Draco was speechless for a few moments. He could not really believe what Harry was asking him. He looked at the other man's eyes, and knew that he was gaping stupidly, but he just couldn't help it. After several seconds, he managed to put some order in his thoughts, and form an answer.

"I-I… o-of course I… I'd love to… but Harry, if this is only about Lillian you don't have to worry. I know that you'd be there for her always and I'd never take her away from you, I… mph…"

Harry kissed Draco's lips a bit forcefully. The blond forgot what he was saying and a moan escaped him. The kiss ended too soon for his liking.

"You think too much Draco."

The blond blinked a few times and then scowled.

"Yeah, well. A certain Gryffindor just tends to get on my nerves from time to time."

Harry chuckled, and then returned to be serious.

"I really mean it Draco. It's not just Lillian. Of course I love her, but I also like to be with you. I don't know if it's love, but I do care about you, a lot. Maybe it's a start?"

Draco bit his lip in uncertainty. He still resisted to believe his luck. If this wasn't true, he was not going to survive it.

"Are you sure?" He asked timidly. Harry caressed the back of his head with a hand, and kissed him softly.

"I'm pretty sure. I want to be with you. I want to try to give Lillian a family with you. Maybe it'd be hard, and we'd try to kill each other eventually, but why not learn to be a family together?"

Another soft kiss, and Draco closed his eyes to savour it. If both of them wanted to try, why the hell not?

"What is life without risks?"

Harry smiled and pulled Draco to himself in a happy hug. The blond returned the embrace with equal enthusiasm. They decided to return to the manor and inform Narcissa that Harry was moving in. They shared one last passionate kiss before going.

Of course, the last thing they saw as they apparated away, still kissing, was the unmistakable flash of a camera.

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For the record:

Lillian – for Lily, because I don't think that Harry would ever accept any other name for his daughter.

Berenice – Draco's following the Black's tradition to name children after some constellation.


	29. Epilogue 2

***Disclaimer:** Harry Potter, and all the characters from it doesn't belong to me, they belong to J. K. Rowling, I'm not gaining anything but fun from writing this.

**Author's note:** This is a paper that Lillian wrote for homework. I included it in the story just to give a semblance of Harry and Draco's lives. I don't know if the writing is adequate for a child, but let's pretend it is.

**Chapter 27. Epilogue 2. My Family.**

_My Family_

_By Lillian Berenice Potter Malfoy_

_My name is Lillian Berenice Potter-Malfoy, but everyone calls me Lily or 'Nice. Except my dad, when I misbehave. He calls me by my full name then. I am 10 years old. My family consists of my parents, my grandmother 'Cissa, my grandmother Molly, a younger sister and a bunch of uncles and aunts and cousins, all of them from granny Molly's side, except uncle Severus. My parents are Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. They are really cool parents and love my sister and me dearly, and they let both of my grandmothers spoil us. _

_We live in Winchester, in daddy's family manor. It's huge and has many rooms and gardens. The entire family gathers there for birthdays and Christmas. It's nice because everyone fits in the house and the house-elves are happy to have so many people to care for. However, we have to take care to clean after ourselves, because my aunt Hermione gets upset if we make the elves work too much. She likes the elves and wants them to have a happy life. _

_Both my parents have jobs. My dad Harry works at the Ministry, in the Magical creatures' department. He keeps the records of the Rainbow Dragons, and the people bonded to them, and scolds silly people that still believe that the Dragons are pets. He's an expert on Dragons and says that we have a lot to learn from them. People say that he should be an Auror, but my dad refused the job when they offered it to him. He says that he had had enough fighting with dark wizards to last him two lifetimes. My daddy Draco is a potions master. He studied with uncle Severus many years to be the best potions master ever. He says that he still has much to learn, but he's already awesome. He has his lab in the manor basement and doesn't let me play there. I'm only allowed there when he's not brewing anything dangerous and I want to help him. He doesn't get out much; every one who wants to buy his potions goes to the manor to daddy's study. They are very important people, so my dad says, even from other countries. Daddy says that that is enough._

_The two of them have dragons too. Daddy's dragon is almost always in our garden because she likes my daddy very much and wants to be sure that he's ok. Dad's dragon is bigger, and when he visits the entire house trembles at his arrival! He helped dad to find a stone for his staff, because Dad didn't want the one he got. The dragons are like family to us, and Dad says that we should never forget that it's thanks to them that we have magic. _

_My baby sister's name is Artemisa Jamie Malfoy-Potter. She's six years old, and a walking mess. She gets me in troubles, because daddy wouldn't believe me that she is the one who steals the cookies that the elves keep in the high cupboard in the kitchen. I swear she is the one! She has only shared with me once! I might have helped her once in a while with her pranks, but she's the mastermind! Really! Ok, maybe not so much, but she is a good distraction. _

'_Misa and I don't have a mother because our parents decided that they loved each other very much that they wanted to be together and be a family. That's what my Grandma 'Cissa says. She says that Daddy had me, and Dad had my sister thanks to a very special spell, that can't be done with anyone, just with special people like my parents. And because of that we are all the most special to them. I have met some very rude people that insists that my dad should have a proper wife and that my daddy should not be raising us. My dad gets very mad when that happens. Uncle Ron once told me that people thinks that a proper family should have a woman as a mother and a man as a father. I asked him what was the difference with my family, and he said that no one really knew and that people just wasn't used to see two men raising their children together. I think people is stupid and they are just jealous of us. That's also what my uncles George and Fred think. _

_I used to wonder why people kept looking at us funny when we went to Diagon Alley or to eat at a restaurant. They looked and looked, but never said anything to us. Aunt Hermione told me that people used to be very nosy and always assault my daddy every time he and dad were seen together, until dad had had enough and had cursed an idiotic (her words) reporter who had been stalking them. He had also told the press and the wizarding world to mind their own business, and that he was going to live with whoever he wanted to. He even managed to return love letters, fan mail, and howlers back to the sender with nasty surprises. Few people dare to say something to my parents' face since then._

_The rest of my family has always been there, supporting my dads. Aunt Hermione and uncle Ron are the ones that visit us the most. They have a daughter called Rose, and aunt Hermione is pregnant. Uncle Ron says that he wants at least five children, but my aunt hits him every time he says so. The uncles I like the most are Fred and George. They're really funny and always bring me something from the joke shop. Uncle George and aunt Angelina have a son, Arthur. Uncle Fred is married to uncle Lee, they have no children. I asked them why and they said that they were thinking about it. Uncle Fred often says that he and uncle Lee are grateful to my parents, because thanks to them marriage between people of the same gender became popular. For some reason aunt Hermione always huffs and rolls her eyes when he says that._

_Next year I'm starting Hogwarts! Uncle Severus already told me that he better not caught me doing mischief. I promised he won't know of any pranks done by me. It doesn't mean that I'm not going to have fun, only he's not gonna hear about it. Uncle Remus is going to teach me Defense in Hogwarts. My dad says that one of the new teachers is trying to get out with him, but he doesn't want to. Dad says that uncle Remus lost his mate in the war and he fears to love another person. I may be doing something to help him. Everyone should have a person to love! Even uncle Severus is dating my future aunt Serena. He denies it, but I know they are seeing each other and are going to marry! Uncle Remus should have someone too!_

_That's a bit about my family. I love my parents and my little sister very much, and I'll love my dragon when I get one. My parents say that I'm going to get one when I'm old enough. I promise to love it, and respect it, and listen to it when it wants to give advice like my parents do. We are very happy, and like our lives very much._

_The End._

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That's all. Finally! Thank you all that read and reviewed this fic. Sorry that it took so long, but well, I'd never understand how people manage to write so much, I find it difficult to get enough time to do everything.

Thank you all again, and as always feedback is appreciated.


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